New CDL, Hours Rules Coming, Clapp Says

NAPLES, Fla. - The federal government’s top truck regulator told logistics providers here Tuesday that he wants to push through new federal rules on commercial driver licenses and driver’s hours of service, but did not provide a timetable as to when the actions would take place.

oseph M. Clapp, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said he will soon sign off on a CDL rule that will clarify a section of the USA Patriot Act dealing with hazardous material endorsements on the licenses.

However, Clapp told the National Small Shipments Traffic Conference that after he signs the rule it must still be cleared at other levels of the Bush administration, including the Office of Management and Budget, before becoming effective.

Clapp also said he wants to complete the reform process for drivers’ hours begun under the Clinton administration. During 2000, hours reform was a lightning rod for controversy, drawing 53,000 comments during eight public meetings. It was shelved in the waning months of the Clinton administration.

Clapp said that because of the high volume of comments that came out at that time, he does not anticipate holding another battery of hearings when the new rule is announced. He offered no schedule for publication of that rule either.

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