The White House Office of Management and Budget is expected to release the new hours-of-service rules by the end of this month, according to Anne Ferro, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
“To assist and review [the proposed rule], the department requested an additional 30 days, so we expect something within that 30 days,” Ferro said Monday, Nov. 8, at the International Conference on Commercial Driver Health and Wellness in Baltimore. “I think it will be sometime in November. That’s what we’re looking for.” Ferro declined to comment about the specifics of the new rule.
FMCSA submitted the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to OMB on July 26 and had expected the office to finish its review Oct. 26. The agency had scheduled the NPRM for a Nov. 4 publication date and planned to allow public comment until Jan. 4. The OMB met Oct. 18 with representatives from the National Retail Federation, National Industrial Transportation League, Waterfront Coalition, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Retail Industry Leaders Association, American Bakers Association and National Association of Manufacturers. Federal officials did not provide additional meeting information.
A year ago, FMCSA entered into a settlement agreement to revisit the current rule, issued in 2008, and publish a final rule by July 26, 2011. Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Truck Safety Coalition and the Teamsters union had brought suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which previously had struck down the agency’s 2003 and 2005 versions of HOS.
