In The News

Trucking, other stakeholders wait as HOS deadline draws near

WASHINGTON — For the trucking industry, safety advocacy groups and the Teamsters Union, this is the week that is — or was supposed to be.

Friday is the current deadline for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to published the proposed new Hours of Service rule.

And, despite the fact that as of mid-day Monday the rule still had not been sent from the Department of Transportation to the Office of Management and Budget, a spokesperson for FMCSA said the agency was still working toward the Friday deadline.

For the OMB to review and approve the rule in less than a week would likely be nothing short of unprecedented in the regulatory rulemaking arena.

Normally, the OMB has up to 90 days to review a rule.

In light of President Barack Obama’s Executive Order earlier this year that imposes a series of new requirements designed to reduce regulatory burdens and costs, the OMB will probably take a microscopic look at the cost benefit analysis of the proposed rule.

When House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, asked the White House to provide a list of proposed rules that would have an estimated economic impact of $1 billion or more, Hours of Service was one of seven proposed DOT rules on the list.

Even FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro recently expressed uncertainty about whether the agency could meet the deadline.

“We’re working toward that date,” Ferro said during an interview with The Trucker Oct. 17 during the annual American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition at Grapevine, Texas. “Reality says we are just two weeks away (as of Oct. 17) and certainly we have other agencies that need to do their due diligence in review, so we’re all working toward completing that [process].”

Seemingly, any delay in publishing the rule would require approval of the plaintiffs that brought suit against the current rule.

The plaintiffs and FMCSA agreed a settlement of the suit in which the FMCSA promised to issue a new rule by last July.

But when the agency decided to include in the official docket new data it wanted to use to help develop the new rule, it asked and received an extension of the deadline.

As of last week, a spokesman for Public Citizen, one of groups that filed the suit, said the FMCSA had made no contact about extending the deadline.

Lyndon Finney of The Trucker staff may be contacted to comment at [email protected] .

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