FMCSA Sends HOS Proposal to White House
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sent its proposal for a new hours-of-service rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review Monday, meeting the first of its court-appointed deadlines for issuing the rule.
According to OMB’s website, the notice of proposed rulemaking was filed with by FMCSA on July 26 – nine months after the agency entered into a settlement agreement with a coalition of groups led by Public Citizen and the Teamsters union.
Under that agreement, FMCSA said it would review the rule and within nine months send the White House a new proposal. The agency now has until July 2011 to publish that proposal, collect comments and issue a new final rule.
Since agreeing to issue the new rule, FMCSA has opened a docket seeking information about the hours-of-service rule and held more than half-dozen listening sessions around the country collecting input from drivers, fleet executives and advocacy groups about the regulation.
On its website, OMB said that the rule was “economically significant.” Typically, the budget office reviews regulations like the hours rule for roughly 90 days, putting the rule on pace to be published in the Federal Register by late October or early November.
