Electronic Logging Device rule poised to miss yet another projected publication date

It’s been just shy of a year since Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Anne Ferro told members of Congress at a House subcommittee hearing that she expected her agency to publish a proposed rule mandating the use of electronic logging devices (also known as electronic onboard recorders) in six months.

March 14, 2013, in front of the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Highways and Transport Subcommittee, Ferro said she expected the rule to be published in September.

That was then backed up to Nov. 18.

Which was then backed up to Dec. 23.

Then Jan. 28.

Then Feb. 27.

Though Feb. 27 hasn’t passed yet, the rule hasn’t yet cleared the White Houses’ Office of Management and Budget, and there’s generally about a two-week lag between clearance there and publication.

Also, when the Department of Transportation predicted earlier this month the rule would be published Feb. 27, it said the proposal would likely clear the OMB Feb. 14. That date, obviously, has come and gone, and the rule is still under OMB review.

Granted, FMCSA can’t force the OMB’s hand on clearing the rule, so they’re not exclusively to blame for the continual set-and-miss dates for the rule’s unveiling.

But they are well behind schedule: Current MAP-21 highway funding act directed the agency to publish a rule within one year of its passage.

MAP-21 was signed into law by the president in July 2012.

The regulation could clear the OMB any day and only be about two weeks off the most recently predicted date of publication, but at this point, shouldn’t we just expect the rule to be delayed another month?