Hours Capped at 73 a Week in Senate Transport Bill
This story appears in the April 25 print edition of Transport Topics.
WASHINGTON — A fiscal 2017 transportation funding bill that would set at 73 hours the allowable time per week truckers may work before taking a break, was advanced by a Senate panel April 21.
The Appropriations Committee voted 30-0 to report a $56 billion transportation funding bill to the floor.
But the committee adjourned without engaging in debate over trucking policies related to the allowable workweek schedules for truckers. Republican leaders who control the chamber have not indicated when the bill, which would provide funding for transportation programs, would be debated.
The hours-of-service provision in the bill would retain the ability of drivers to reset their workweeks by taking an extended 34-hour off-duty period, with the recognition they still be limited to 73 hours of work, whether driving or other duties, in seven calendar days.
“A driver who uses that restart rule may not drive after being on duty more than 73 hours in any period of seven consecutive days,” according to the bill.
The provision targets a technicality pertaining to truckers’ rest rules in a fiscal 2016 funding law, the interpretation of which could result in relying on the rolling recap of weekly work limits of 60 hours in seven days and 70 hours in eight days.
The fiscal 2016 funding law intended to address only the 34-hour restart having to do with the consecutive 1 a.m.-to-5 a.m. rest periods, which took effect in 2013. The restart regulation was suspended upon enactment of a fiscal 2015 funding bill.
American Trucking Associations welcomed the hours-of-service language in the fiscal 2017 funding bill.
“ATA is pleased that the committee took such swift action on a bipartisan fiscal-year 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, which includes a provision that underscores Congress’ intent that America’s truck drivers can continue utilizing the hours-of-service restart provision if a congressionally mandated study is unable to demonstrate the July 2013 restart restrictions improve driver safety and health,” ATA Press Secretary Sean McNally told Transport Topics.
While ATA and segments of the transportation sector expressed strong concern over federal hours-of-service regulations, a few groups have come out against the provision. The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety has accused trucking interests of “writing a brand new regulation behind closed doors.”
“There was absolutely no discussion or debate about a controversial provision slipped into the bill that will rewrite the Obama Administration’s truck driver hours-of-service rule and promote even more fatigue among truck drivers,” said Cathy Chase, the group’s vice president of governmental affairs, on passage of bill. “This action is especially egregious considering tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating crash which killed five nursing students from Georgia Southern University. The driver in that crash had a history of falling asleep at the wheel in previous incidents.”
Also, the fiscal 2017 funding bill would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to advance a rule on speed limiters for trucks.
A segment of the trucking industry backs a proposal requiring speed limiters.
Last month, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told Senate funding leaders at a hearing that a proposed rule on the matter was forthcoming this month. The speed limiter proposal would look to decrease fatal crashes on roadways.
“The department continues to delay its proposed rule on speed governors, which will improve safety on our nation’s roadways by preventing commercial truck and bus drivers from speeding,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairwoman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, said April 19 when her subcommittee considered the bill. “They have already missed the deadline Congress imposed.”
Overall, the fiscal 2017 funding legislation would provide nearly $900 million for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, $644 million for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety initiatives, $525 million for an infrastructure grants program and $259 million for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
“This bipartisan bill makes important investments in our nation’s infrastructure,” Collins said April 21.
Added Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the transportation funding panel: “The new funding and policies in this bill will help improve the safety of our roads.”
