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ATA pleads for long-term highway bill passage, says e-log mandate on track for September

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Updated Apr 28, 2015

Publication of a Final Rule to mandate the use of electronic logging devices by truck drivers appears “by all indications” to be on track for its Sept. 30 projection, said the American Trucking Associations’ Dave Osiecki on Thursday during an ATA media update for trucking industry press and the national media.

And until then, Osiecki says, ATA will make publication of the e-log mandate its top lobbying priority.

Osiecki, ATA’s VP of regulatory affairs, was joined by Chris Spears, the trucking lobbying group’s head of legislative affairs, to offer an update on where upcoming trucking regulations stand in the regulatory pipeline and to reiterate ATA’s stance and efforts on both regulatory and legislative activities.

Driver drug testing issues follow an ELD mandate on ATA’s lobbying agenda, Osiecki said. Publication by FMCSA of a Final Rule to implement the CDL Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, also expected this year, is No. 2 behind requiring ELDs, and allowing hair testing to satisfy federal driver drug testing requirements is also high on the list, he said.

ATA will also continue to push for removal of the public rankings in the agency’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program and permanent suspension of the 2013-implemented hours-of-service rule changes, especially those dictating use of a 34-hour HOS restart.

“We believe that [the portion of the rules now suspended] are not as safe as they could be, and we don’t believe they are as safe as the approach in place from 2003-2013,” Osiecki said.

In addition to the suspension of the rules, FMCSA has also been tasked with justifying them with a five-month field study, as directed by Congress in December. Osiecki says ATA is not sure what Congress or FMCSA will do with the restart rules once the study is completed.