[NJAGDU] FW: [NAGDU] Important and time sensitive! Federal Register now accepting comments on DOT form required for air travel with service dogs. Due on1/12

[carcione at access.net]

This regards the forms airlines are requiring service dog users to fill out.
I'm sorry I forgot to forward this earlier.  The DOT was late in putting out the notice to begin with, and the deadline is tomorrow.
Tracy


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Al Elia via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, January 9, 2024 8:16 AM
To: Bryan Gearry <bgearry at alaskafrontier.net>
Cc: Al Elia <al.elia at aol.com>; Sarah Calhoun via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Important and time sensitive! Federal Register now accepting comments on DOT form required for air travel with service dogs. Due on1/12

For everyone’s benefit, I have pasted the text from the federal register below. Please note that it is OCR’d to ensure that the included copy of the revised attestation form was easily readable, as it was not easily readable in the original copy of the register.

NFB will be submitting its own comments, which are currently in process.

Yours,

/Æ

Federal Register/Vol. 88, No. 217 /Monday, November 13, 2023/Notices



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary



[Docket ID Number: DOT-OST-2018-0068]



Notice of Submission of Proposed

Information Collection to OMB Agency

Request for Reinstatement of

Previously Approved Collections:



Traveling by Air With Service

Animals-U.S. Department of

Transportation Service Animal Air

Transportation Form and U.S.

Department of Transportation Service

Animal Relief Attestation Form



AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST),

Department of Transportation

(Department or DOT).



ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.



SUMMARY: In accordance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this

notice announces DOT's intention to

reinstate an Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) Control Number 2105-

0576, "U.S. Department of

Transportation Service Animal Air

Transportation Form," and to seek

comment on formatting and clarifying

amendments to this form. The

Department also seeks to reinstate its

"U.S. Department of Transportation

Service Animal Relief Attestation

Form"; no amendments have been made

to this form. The subject information



collections are related to a requirement

in the Code of Federal Regulations

(CFR) that permits airlines to collect

service animal documentation from

passengers with a disability traveling by

air with a service animal.



DATES: Interested persons are invited to

submit comments regarding this

proposal. Written comments should be

submitted by January 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may file comments

identified by the docket number DOT-OST-2018-0068 by any of the following

methods:



• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to

https:/ /www.regulations.gov and follow

the online instructions for submitting

comments. (You may access comments

received for this notice at https://www.regulations.gov by searching

docket DOT-OST-2018-0068.)



• Mail: Docket Management Facility,

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200

New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building

Ground Floor Room, W12-140,

Washington, DC 20590-0001;



• Hand Delivery: West Building

Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200

New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9 a.m. and

5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except

Federal holidays. The telephone number

is 202-366-9329.



Instructions: You must include the

agency name and docket number DOT­

OST-2010-0054 at the beginning of

your comment. All comments received

will be posted without change to



https :/ /www.regulations.gov, including

any personal information provided.



Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search

the electronic form of all comments

received in any ofDOT's dockets by the

name of the individual submitting the

comment (or signing the comment, if

submitted on behalf of an association,

business, labor union, etc.). You may

review DOT's complete Privacy Act

Statement in the Federal Register

published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR

19477-78).



FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:



Maegan Johnson or Livaughn Chapman,

Jr., Office of Aviation Consumer

Protection, U.S. Department of

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey

Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590,

Telephone Number (202) 366-9342

(voice), (202) 366-7152 (fax);

maegan.johnson at dot.gov or

livaughn.chapman at dot.gov (email).

Arrangements to receive this document

in an alternative format may be made by

contacting the above-named

individuals.



SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:



OMB Control Number: 2105-0576.

Title: Traveling by Air with Service

Animals.



Type of Request: Reinstatement of

information collections.



Background: The U.S. Department of

Transportation (Department or DOT)

published a final rule to amend the

Department's Air Carrier Access Act

(ACAA) regulation on the transport of

service animals by air in the Federal

Register on December 10, 2020 (85 FR

79742). 14 CFR 382.75 allows airlines to

require passengers traveling with

service animals to provide carriers with

the following two forms of

documentation developed by the

Department as a condition of travel. The

first form published in the rule, the U.S.

Department of Transportation Service

Animal Air Transportation Form

("Behavior and Health Attestation

Form"), is designed to ensure and

inform airlines of the service animal's

good health, disability-related training,

and good behavior; to educate

passengers traveling with service

animals on how service animals in air

transportation are expected to behave;

and to inform passengers traveling with

service animals of the consequences of

service animal misbehavior. The second

form published in the rule, the U.S.

Department of Transportation Service

Animal Relief Attestation Form ("Relief

Attestation Form"), may only be

required by the airlines when a

passenger is traveling with service

animals on a flight segment scheduled

to take 8 hours or more. The purpose of

this form is to provide assurances to

airlines that the service animal will not

need to relieve itself on the flight or that

the animal can relieve itself in a way

that does not create a health or

sanitation issue, and to educate

passengers of the consequences should

an animal relieve itself on the aircraft in

an unsanitary way.



The Behavior and Health Attestation

Form and the Relief Attestation Form

are the only forms that airlines are

permitted to require from passengers

traveling with service animals as a

condition of transport, except in rare

circumstances when additional

documentation may be necessary to

comply with requirements on transport

of animals by a Federal agency, a U.S.

territory, or a foreign jurisdiction. DOT

is publishing this notice to announce its

intent to seek reinstatement of the

previously approved information

collections for these forms, OMB

Control Number 2015-0576, and receive

comments on the formatting and

clarifying amendments made to its

Behavior and Health Attestation Form.

Currently, OMB authorization of the

information collections expire on

December 31, 2023.



77668



Federal Register/Vol. 88, No. 217 /Monday, November 13, 2023/Notices



The Department has not made

amendments to its Relief Attestation

Form as part of this renewal; however,

the Department invites comments on the

Relief Attestation Form renewal and on

the formatting and clarifying

amendments to its Behavior and Health

Attestation Form. Although the

amended Behavior and Health

Attestation Form accompanying this

Notice only addresses the formatting

and clarity issues that have been raised

about the form, the Department is aware

that there are additional substantive

issues raised about the current Behavior

and Health attestation form, such as

whether to include a question asking

passengers to state the task or work their

service animal performs, whether to ask

passengers to affirm that they have a

disability, and whether to clarify on the

form that the carrier must assist the

passenger with completing the form.

The Department plans to explore these,

and other related substantive issues that

fall within the bounds of the service

animal rule, with its next Air Carrier

Access Act Advisory Committee.



The amended Behavior and Health

Attestation Form accompanying this

Notice has been reformatted as follows:

(1) the DOT seal and the disclaimer

language at the top of the form has been

adjusted, (2) DOT has added subject

headers throughout the form to better

define the individual sections of the

form, (3) DOT revised the form to

include two separate training sections

so that the service animal user can

indicate both the task training and

behavior training that the service animal

received, (4) DOT added footnotes at the

bottom of the form to clarify that the

service animal user may be listed as the

service animal's behavior and/or task

trainer if the animal was self-trained,

and (5) DOT reduced the number of

times that the animal's name must be

provided on the form.



The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

(PRA) and its implementing regulations,

5 CFR part 1320, require Federal

agencies to issue two notices seeking

public comment on information

collection activities before OMB may

approve paperwork packages. A Federal

agency generally cannot conduct or

sponsor a collection of information, and

the public is generally not required to

respond to an information collection,

unless it is approved by the OMB under

the PRA and displays a currently valid

OMB Control Number. In addition,

notwithstanding any other provisions of

law, no person shall generally be subject

to monetary penalty for failing to

comply with a collection of information

if the collection of information does not



display a valid OMB Control Number.

See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.



For each of these information

collections, the title, a description of the

respondents, and an estimate of the

annual recordkeeping and periodic

reporting burden are set forth below.



1. Requirement to prepare and submit

to airlines the DOT Air Transportation

Service Animal Behavior and Health

Attestation Form.



Respondents: Passengers with

disabilities traveling on aircraft with

service animals.



Number of Respondents: The

Department estimates that 310,145

respondents will complete the Service

Animal Health and Attestation form.

This estimate was calculated by using

the same analysis used by the

Department in its 2021 Service Animal

Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA),

where the Department estimated that

319,000 respondents would use the

Service Animal Health and Attestation

Form.



In the RIA, the Department relied on

2017 passenger data and estimates

provided from Airlines for America on

the number of service animals

transported by U.S. air carriers in 20171

to estimate the number of respondents

that would use the Service Animal

Health and Attestation form. DOT

estimated that in 2017, 281,000 service

animals were transported by U.S.

carriers on flights to, within, and from

the United States, and 38,000 were

transported by foreign air carriers on

flights to and from the United States.2

Assuming that only one passenger with

a disability travels with a service

animal, the Department determined in

2021 that 319,000 respondents (281,000

+ 38,000) would use the service animal

form.



For the purposes of this renewal, the

Department relied on 2022 enplanement

data to estimate the number of

respondents that would complete the

service animal forms. In 2022, U.S.

passenger enplanements increased by .5

percent and foreign carrier

enplanements decreased by 27 percent.3



Thus, DOT estimates that 282,405

service animals were transported by

U.S. carriers to, from, or within the U.S.

in 2022 and, if foreign carriers had a

similar proportion of passengers

traveling with service animals, foreign

carriers transported 27,740 service

animals to or from the U.S. in 2022.

Assuming that only one passenger with

a disability travels with a service

animal, 310,145 respondents (282,405 +

27,740) would complete the service

animal behavior and health attestation

form.



Estimated Total Annual Burden on

Respondents: We estimate that

completing the form would require 15

minutes (.25 hours) per response,

including the time it takes to retrieve an

electronic or paper version of the form

from the carrier's website, reviewing the

instructions, and completing the

questions. Passengers would spend a

total of 77,536 hours annually (0.25

hours x 310,145 passengers) to retrieve

and complete an accessible version of

the form. Passengers would fill out the

forms on their own time without pay.

To estimate the value of this

uncompensated activity, we use median

wage data from the Bureau of Labor

Statistics.4 We use a post-tax wage

estimate of $18.48 ($22.26 median for

all occupations minus a 17% percent

estimated tax rate). The estimated

annual value of this time is $1,432,865

($18.48 x 77,536 hours).5



2. Requirement to prepare and submit

to airlines the DOT Service Animal

Relief Attestation Form.



Respondents: Passengers with

disabilities traveling on aircraft with

service animals on flight segments

scheduled to take 8 hours or more.



Number of Respondents: The

Department estimates that 5 percent of

service animal users would be on flight

segments scheduled to take 8 hours or

more and would also have to complete

the Relief Attestation Form, for a total

of 15,507 respondents (310,145 x 0.05).



Estimated Total Annual Burden on

Respondents: We estimate that

completing the form would require 15



1Comment from A4A,
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOT-OST-2018-0068-4288. A4A estimates that 281,000 service

animals were transported on U.S. airlines in 2017.

DOT estimates that 38,000 service animals were

transported by foreign airlines on flights to and

from the U.S. in 2017 based on air carrier passenger

data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics,

available at https:! !www.bts.gov/newsroom/2017-

traffic-data-us-airlines-andforeign-airlines-us­

flights.



2 See, Traveling by Air with Service Animals

(FR)-Regulatory Impact Analysis (November

2020); Regulations.gov.



3 Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2022).

"2022 Traffic Data for U.S. Airlines and Foreign

Airlines U.S. Flights." https://www.transtats.bts.gov/Data _ Elements.aspx?Data=4.

The number of passengers on foreign carriers (84.5

million) was 9.9 percent of the number on domestic

carriers (852.8 million).



4 For a discussion of estimating the value of

uncompensated activities, see "Valuing Time in

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Regulatory Impact Analyses: Conceptual

Framework and Best Practices" from the

Department of Health and Human Services,

available at https:!!aspe.hhs.gov!system!files!pdf/

257746/VOT.pdf.



5 Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022). "May 2022

National Occupational Employment and Wage

Estimates: United States." May 2022 National

Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

(bis.gov).



Federal Register/Vol. 88, No. 217 /Monday, November 13, 2023/Notices



77669



minutes (.25 hours) per response,

including the time it takes to retrieve an

electronic or paper version of the form

from the carrier's website, reviewing the

instructions, and completing the

questions. Passengers would spend a

total of 3,877 hours annually (0.25 hours

x 15,507 passengers) to retrieve an

accessible version of the form and

complete the form. Passengers would

fill out the forms on their own time

without pay, as they would with the

Animal Behavior and Health Attestation

Form. The estimated annual value of



this time is $71,647 ($18.48 x 3,877

hours).



Comments Invited



We invite comments on the Relief

Attestation Form renewal and on the

formatting and clarity amendments

made to the Behavior and Health

Attestation Form. We also invite

comments on: (a) Whether the collection

of information is necessary for the

proper performance of the functions of

the Department, including whether the

information will have practical utility;

(b) the accuracy of the Department's

estimate of the burden of the proposed



information collection; (c) ways to

enhance the quality, utility and clarity

of the information to be collected; and

( d) ways to minimize the burden of the

collection of information on

respondents.



All responses to this notice will be

summarized and included in the request

for OMB approval. All comments will

also become a matter of public record on

the docket.



Authority: The Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as

amended; and 59 CFR 1.48.



BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P



77670



Federal Register/Vol. 88, No. 217 /Monday, November 13, 2023/Notices



U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form



Warning: It is a Federal crime to make materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements, entries, or representations knowingly

and willfully on this form to secure disability accommodations provided under regulations of the United States Department of

Transportation (18 U.S.C. § 1001).



Individual with a Disability



Service Animal User's Name: ----------------------------------------



Phone:



------~~---~-----



Email:.~--~-~--~~--------~-~~



Animal Health



My Animal's Name: My Animal's Description (including weight): _



D My animal is vaccinated for rabies. Date of last vaccination: Date vaccination expires in the dog: _



D To my knowledge, my animal does not have fleas or ticks or a disease 
that would endanger people or other animals.



Veterinarian's Name (signature not required): Phone: _



Work 01· Task Training_ of Animal



D My animal has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks to 
assist me with my disability.



Name of Task Trainer or Training Organization:' Phone:



Behavior Training of Animal



D My animal has also been trained to behave in a public setting.



Name of Behavior Trainer or Training Organization:2 Phone: _



D I understand that my animal must be under my control at all times.



D I understand that a properly trained dog does not act aggressively by 
biting, barking, jumping, lunging, or injuring people or animals,

and does not urinate or defecate on the aircraft or in the gate area.



D I understand that if my animal shows that it has not been properly 
trained to behave in public, then the airline may treat the

animal as a pet by charging a pet fee and requiring that the animal be 
transported in a pet carrier.



D To the best of my knowledge, my animal has not behaved aggressively or 
caused serious injury to another person or animal.



If you cannot check the box above, please explain: _



Other Assurances



D I understand that my animal must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered at 
all times in the airport and on the aircraft.



D I understand that ifmy animal causes damage, then the airline may 
charge me for the cost to repair it, as long as the airline

would also charge passengers without disabilities to repair similar 
kinds of damage.



D I understand that I am signing an official document of the U.S. 
Department of Transportation, and if I knowingly make false statements

on this document, I can be subject to fines and other penalties.



Signature:



-------------



Date:



-------------



1 If the service animal user self-trained the animal to do work or 
perform a task, the service animal user should be listed as the task 
trainer.

2 If the service animal user self-trained the animal to behave, the 
service animal user should be listed as the behavior trainer.



Federal Register/Vol. 88, No. 217 /Monday, November 13, 2023/Notices



77671



Issued in Washington, DC.



Livaughn Chapman Jr.,



Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Office of

Aviation Consumer Protection.



On 8 Jan 2024, at 20:56, Bryan Gearry wrote:

> Sarah, I just read your email. Is there a form or do you just send an 
> attachment to that link in the form of a letter? Trying to read thru 
> all the government googly gook is a overwhelming. It's like they don't 
> really want you to respond.
>
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