Two provisions of the 2013 changes to hours-of-service regulations for truck operators will be suspended at least until Sept. 30, 2015. While the bill has been passed we are waiting until the FMCSA announces the suspension of the rules. For the time being please continue to operate under the current HOS rules. We will let you know when the HOS changes come into affect.
The order comes from Congress: The Senate late Saturday night passed a spending bill already passed by the House that includes a provision to put a stay of enforcement on the federal rules (a) requiring a drivers’ 34-hour restart to include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and (b) limiting the use of a 34-hour restart to once per week.
The law dictates that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issue a notice in the Federal Register “as soon as possible” announcing the suspension of the rules in question, which will make the stay of enforcement official.
The FMCSA is now required to perform a “naturalistic study” of the restart rules to determine their impacts on safety, health and carrier operations. The study must be overseen and reviewed by the DOT’s Inspector General. The bill dictates that the two rules suspended will not go back into effect until FMCSA completes the study and can show Congress that the rules “provide a greater net benefit for the operation, safety, health and fatigue impacts” than not.
