Court Orders FMCSA to Issue Logbook Documentation Rule

This story appears in the Oct. 11 print edition of Transport Topics.

A federal appeals court has ordered the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue before Dec. 30 its proposal spelling out what documents trucking fleets need to retain to verify their drivers’ hours-of-service logbooks.

The decision was a victory for American Trucking Associations, which filed a lawsuit earlier this year in an attempt to get the agency to issue the rule mandated by a 1994 federal law (click here for previous story).

In the Sept. 30 ruling, a three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said ATA had “demonstrated that the delay in this case warrants issuance of” a writ of mandamus, which orders FMCSA to issue a rule promptly.

“I think the court, by granting the writ, which is unusual, recognized that the agency needed some firm deadlines and some goading,” ATA General Counsel Robert Digges told Transport Topics.

“And we also are pleased that the court is apparently retaining jurisdiction over this, so if we don’t ultimately get to a final rule in a reasonable time frame, we can go back to them,” Digges said.

In a statement, FMCSA spokeswoman Candice Tolliver said the agency “will meet the rulemaking deadline” imposed by the court.

FMCSA “gave every indication to the court that things were well down the road in terms of getting a supporting document rule out,” Digges said. “I think the court took them at their word, and that’s why they have a relatively short window to get the [notice of proposed rulemaking] out.”

FMCSA nearly issued a rule in 2007 — 12 years after Congress mandated it. However, citing a failure to properly account for the paperwork burden the rule might create, the agency withdrew that rule.

Earlier this year, FMCSA issued regulatory guidance and assured the court in filings that it intended to issue a rule this year, making ATA’s lawsuit moot. But ATA rejected FMCSA’s arguments (click here for previous story).

“I think the litigation has paid dividends and is likely to get us a final rule that will hopefully do what Congress told them to do . . . precisely define the documents motor carriers need to retain and ensure that retention is at a reasonable cost to carriers,” Digges said.

The rule, tied to an expanded electronic onboard recorder mandate, had been slated for publication in the Federal Register in January 2011, according to the Department of Transportation’s most recent report on rulemakings.

In DOT’s report, the agency had scheduled the rule for delivery to the White House Office of Management and Budget by Sept. 30.

However, DOT has yet to update the report for October, and OMB, which posts the rules it currently is reviewing, did not have the supporting documents regulation listed, as of Oct. 7.