WASHINGTON -- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is exploring the idea of requiring new bus and truck companies to pass a proficiency exam before being allowed to operate.

The proposal is the FMCSAs first major regulatory action under the Obama administration.

In a notice published in the Federal Register last month, the FMCSA said it was "considering whether to implement a proficiency examination as part of our revised new-entrant safety assurance process."

The FMCSA said it was seeking "information concerning issues that should be considered in the development and use of such an examination."

A spokesman for the FMCSA said if the agency adopted an exam as part of the new-entrant process it would be in addition to the existing regulations.

Under the current new-entrant process that was adopted during the final weeks of the Bush administration, new bus and truck companies must submit to a safety audit within 18 months of opening for business, and are to be shutdown if they fail to comply with any one of 16 federal safety rules.

The Bush administration reportedly considered creating an entrance exam as part of its new-entrant process but did not include such a step in its final rule.

The FMCSA and its inspection partners conduct roughly 40,000 safety audits annually. The agency attempts to inspect new bus companies well before the 18-month window allowed by the current rule.

The lack of a proficiency exam in the final rule, along with other issues, led Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety to file a petition with the agency to reconsider the current new-entrant rule.

The FMCSA said its investigation of a proficiency exam "responds to issues raised by" the advocacy group.

The notice asks for comment on issues ranging from the feasibility of creating a testing regime and the cost of operting it, to how a test should be administered.