U.S. House extends new HOS rules for one year

WASHINGTON, (Oct. 1, 2004) — The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a stop-gap, temporary highway funding bill that includes an extension of the new hours of service rules until September 2005 or until the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration comes up with a replacement rule, whichever comes first.

The FMCSA said it would issue a statement after the temporary bill is signed into law by President Bush. The measure must first get through a House-Senate conference, but according to some sources, the bill could be in the President’s hands by today.

The new hours of service rules that went into effect in January were rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in July. In its decision, the court sided with a lobby group called Public Citizen that the regulations are “arbitrary and capricious,” and the FMCSA failed to comply with a statute requiring it to consider the rule’s impact on the health of drivers.

Moreover, the court expressed additional concerns with the rule: such as changing the maximum driving time from 10 to 11 hours; the sleeper berth provision; the 34-hour “restart” provision; and the FMCSA’s decision not to include in the final rule the earlier proposal to require electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs). (On the latter point, the FMCSA recently published a proposal requesting public comment on the issue of including EOBRs as part of the new HOS mandate).

The Court then sent the case back to the FMCSA for review. The agency chose not to appeal the decision to a higher court but instead asked the court to keep the current rules in place while it considers a new rule to address the court’s concerns. That moved was backed by the trucking industry in both the U.S. and Canada, as well as the shipper community, who all say reverting back to the old rules would have placed significant and unwarranted costs on truckers.

— with files from Truckinginfo.com