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FMCSA Sends HOS Proposal to White House for Review
This story appears in the Dec. 3 print edition of Transport Topics.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it sent its revised hours-of-service rule to the White House for review last week and Administrator John Hill said he expected to announce the details shortly.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l be hearing something about that hopefully within the week,鈥 Hill said Nov. 28 in Baltimore. He did not discuss any specifics of the rule.
Hill spoke at a demonstration of truck rollover prevention equipment.
The proposed revisions, which need to be in place by Dec. 27, were sent to the White House鈥檚 Office of Management and Budget for review Nov. 27 as an interim final rule, which expedites the reviewing procedure. By press time, OMB had not approved the proposed rule for publication.
FMCSA spokeswoman Melissa Mazzella DeLaney told Transport Topics on Nov. 29 the agency 鈥渨ill wait until we get [OMB鈥檚] feedback鈥 before making any an-nouncement about the substance of the rule.
FMCSA is revising its hours regulation on the orders of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which ruled in July that the agency failed to justify parts of the rule 鈥 provisions that allow drivers to drive for 11 hours in a work day and to reset their weekly allotment of drivable hours by taking 34 consecutive hours off (7-30, p. 1).
In September, shortly before the court鈥檚 ruling was to go into effect, the agency received a 90-day reprieve, pushing the deadline back to the end of the year (10-8, p. 1).
Hill told TT in October he hoped to make an announcement by the end of November, but observers said it could be difficult to meet that goal.
鈥淚s it possible? Sure. It depends on how much spade work they did with OMB in advance of getting the rule over there,鈥 said Dave Osiecki, vice president of safety, security and operations for American Trucking Associations. 鈥淭hey do that on lots of rules. I suspect that they did that on this one, given the fact that FMCSA has to get something out by the end of December.鈥
DeLaney told TT 鈥渢here have been conversations鈥 between the agency and OMB, but she could not say when the rule would be returned. All federal rules must be sent to OMB for review, and then they are returned to the agency before being published in the Federal Register.
鈥淭echnically, OMB has 90 days to review the rule,鈥 said Steve Keppler, director of policy and programs for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. He added, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I hope it can be done quickly, because obviously the Dec. 27 is within that 90-day window.鈥
Keppler said the length of time FMCSA took before sending the rule to OMB could make quick approval likely.
鈥淎t least from the optics of it and how long it鈥檚 taken, hopefully they ran all the traps they need to,鈥 he said.
DeLaney said the agency had undertaken 鈥渁 long process of review and vetting鈥 in revising the rule.
But as the December deadline approaches, industry and enforcement officials said time was running short for a smooth transition if the rule substantially changes from what is now used for trucking operations.
鈥淭hirty days is awfully quick,鈥 Osiecki said. 鈥淏ut it will depend on the extent of the changes. What we鈥檝e historically seen is that three to six months is necessary to make software changes, dispatching changes and other changes . . . and that would be the case here 鈥 assuming there are changes. We鈥檙e hopeful that there are no changes.鈥
ATA has lobbied the agency to maintain the 11th hour and the 34-hour restart provisions in a new hours rule.
Keppler said there would need to be changes in training for law enforcement officers, which could be problematic for states.
鈥淧ulling officers off the road is never easy,鈥 he said, 鈥渆specially in larger states. California, for example, has over 1,000 officers that will need to be trained.鈥
However, Keppler said a number of states already have scheduled regular training for the coming months, so if the rule emerges soon, 鈥渢his is something that could be accommodated without a whole lot of headaches between now and the spring time.鈥
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