FMCSA Sends Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on HOS to the White House

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sent its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding a new Hours-of-Service (HOS) rule to the White House on July 26th. From this point, the agency has until July 2011 to publish the proposed rule, receive comments on it, and issue a new final rule.

During the past five years the FMCSA’s HOS Regulation has been one of their most hotly contested regulations. Because of policy changes and legal challenges to the FMCSA, the HOS rules have been changed—and then changed back—several times.

The last amendment to the HOS rules, which increased the maximum number of hours a driver could drive (after coming back on duty) from 10 to 11 hours, went into effect in January 2004. That amendment prompted concerns about driver fatigue, as well as the current lawsuit and settlement requiring the FMCSA to pen a new HOS rule.

Based on the amount of time typically needed by the Office of Management and Budget for reviewing regulations like these, the Federal Register will likely publish the proposed rule in late October / early November of this year.