Earlier this year, President Trump signed Executive Order 13771 (“Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs”). In order to comply with the order, which would eliminate two “burdensome regulations” for every one new regulatory action, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) presented a PowerPoint containing a list of a dozen rules that they suggest can be considered for elimination. These included:
*Regulations left behind by the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was dissolved in 1996.
*The Motor Carrier Routing Regulations
*Noise Emission Standards
*Loss and Damage Claims
*Preservation of Records
*The 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. restart provision, part of a driver’s hours-of-service requirements which sparked opposition among drivers and carriers by reducing a driver’s time on the road each week, limiting their income, affecting productivity, and increasing safety concerns by putting drivers on the road during peak hours, leading to congestion on the roads. Congress had suspended such a provision in the 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill until the FMCSA could conduct further research on the restart rules and their impact.
*No-defect driver vehicle inspection reports
*Separate regulations for the transportation of migrant workers
*States being able to cooperate with the FMCSA on enforcement of safety regulations
*Removal of certain driver requirements such as medical records.
*Time card exception
*Agricultural requirements
*Quarterly reports of carriers
The DOT is now “reviewing its existing regulations and other agency actions to evaluate their continued necessity, determine whether they are crafted effectively to solve current problems, and evaluate whether they potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources. As part of these reviews, the Department invites the public to provide input on existing rules and other agency actions that are good candidates for repeal, replacement, suspension, or modification.” 1
Comments will be accepted online, by fax (202–493–2251), or by mail (Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., Room W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001) on or before Nov. 1.
We reached out to drivers asking them what regulations they felt were “unnecessary burdens.” Most stated hours-of-service requirements that went into effect in July 2013, which included a restart provision containing two consecutive breaks between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5.am., reduction of a driver’s work week from 82 to 70 hours, as well as a mandatory 30-minute break if 8 hours or less have passed since the driver’s last off-duty period. One driver explained that there are days where he could be completely done in 10 minutes but needed to shut down for 30 according to the rule, making his day longer. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration decided earlier this year to restore the 34-hour start ruling prior to its 2013 revision.
What regulations do you feel should be removed or modified? We want to hear from you!
1https://www.gobytrucknews.com/dot-input-regulations-cut/123
