Congress Imposes Hurdles for Restoring HOS Restart
An expansive fiscal 2016 funding bill that avoids a shutdown of the federal government offered a significant victory for the trucking industry by extending the suspension of the hours-of-service restart rule, but it did not include language to allow twin 33-foot trailers nationwide.
The House and Senate were scheduled to vote on the omnibus bill Dec. 18, after this edition of Transport Topics went to press. (Updated story with coverage of passage here.) President Obama indicated he would sign the $1.1 trillion funding bill into law. The omnibus, crafted by the leaders of each party in both houses, would fund every agency in the federal government through September.
“This legislation is our best option to responsibly meet national security requirements, improve our country’s infrastructure and address other public needs,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). “We’ve worked on a bipartisan basis to produce a bill that will make important investments to aid our economy and promote more effective and efficient government.”
Trucking officials and industry observers anticipate the restart provision that took effect in July 2013 to remain suspended for many months as a result of the new safety metrics the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will be required to address in a review of the rule.
The omnibus states that before FMCSA reinstates the 2013-2014 version of HOS restart, it would need to report to Congress on how the rule delivers improvements “in all outcomes related to safety, operator fatigue, driver health” and work schedules.
FMCSA had indicated it was on track to delivering Congress a final review of the restart rule by February. Restart was suspended upon enactment of a 2014 funding law. Under the 2013-2014 version, truck drivers had to take off from 1 to 5 a.m. on consecutive days during a 34-hour restart. The suspension means that truckers had to adhere to the June 2013 version of HOS restart.
Reacting to the HOS provision, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said it was “completely appropriate for Congress to establish a safety and health standard.”
Overall, the omnibus would provide $580 million for FMCSA through Sept. 30, and calls on the agency to complete its final rule on mandatory use of speed-limiting devices on heavy-duty trucks. Highway Trust Fund spending would reach $42.36 billion. Those funds would go toward critical infrastructure projects aimed at expanding freight-moving capacity.
The funding bill includes $500 million for the popular Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant program. That matches the fiscal 2015 level. Also included is $50 million for grants to pay for improvements in freight and passenger rail infrastructure.
The omnibus is for just one year and different from the recently enacted $305 billion, five-year FAST Act surface transportation law.
Meanwhile, lawmakers rejected an effort to authorize twin 33-foot trailers nationwide. ATA and groups such as the Coalition for Efficient and Responsible Trucking had strongly pushed to see the provision included in the omnibus. When the omnibus was unveiled, they expressed disappointment in the decision by congressional leaders.
“We’re disheartened that Congress has passed up a huge opportunity to improve highway safety and trucking’s efficiency by removing language that would have allowed twin 33s on U.S. highways,” said ATA Chairman Pat Thomas, senior vice president of state government affairs for UPS Inc.
“In rejecting a modest extension in the length of twin trailers, Congress missed an opportunity to bring long-overdue efficiencies to freight trucking that would have produced tangible safety, economic and environmental benefits at a time when so many roads and bridges have fallen into disrepair after years of neglect,” noted Ed Patru, spokesman for the Coalition for Efficient and Responsible Trucking.
According to a summary of the omnibus bill prepared by the office of Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, the trailer language “was opposed by the State Highway Patrol Association and other law enforcement entities who argue that double trailers already increase the chances of a fatality in the event of an accident. Expanding the length of double trailers will only further compromise the safety of our roadways.”
Although funding leaders in the House and Senate had pushed for the trailer provision’s approval, a small group of senators led by Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) mounted persistent opposition. On Nov. 18, the Senate easily approved Wicker’s proposal calling for a delay in approving the longer trailers nationwide, essentially sealing its fate in the omnibus.
