The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration filed a memorandum with a court in Washington Friday strongly supporting American Trucking Associations’ request that the court’s vacating of provisions of truck driver hours-of-service rules be stayed pending their reconsideration by the agency.
Agreeing with ATA that a stay of the rule needed to “prevent substantial disruption of trucking operations,” FMCSA cited timing concerns and significant transition costs to the industry related to a rule change, costs it noted that could “have to be incurred again.”
FMCSA also pointed to disruptions and confusion in HOS enforcement if the rules were changed, ATA said.
The agency noted the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had invalidated the 11- and 34-hour provision “on procedural grounds only” and that the “decision did not foreclose issuance of a new rule that contains the 11-hour and 34-hour provisions, assuming the agency provides the requisite notice and comment and adequately explains its reasoning.”
ATA had sought a stay of the court’s split ruling in July that rejected an owner-operators group’s petition but granted one by a public safety advocacy group.
FMCSA suggested that the court grant a 12-month stay during which it would conduct a new rulemaking to consider new data and address the procedural shortcomings identified by the court, ATA said.
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