Reversing HOS Restart Restrictions

In many respects, the $1 trillion “Cromnibus” law signed by President Obama on Dec. 16 is a legislative monster, but a passage of surpassing loveliness to us is the reprieve on the hours-of-service restart provision that sends us back to June 30, 2013 — at least for a while.

That amendment from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is now the law. Yes, there is still an HOS restart process for drivers, and it still is 34 hours long. But for now, Congress has heard the concerns of fleet managers and drivers.

People in trucking get to pick the 34 hours they want and not the time formula desired by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

We think this is a victory for sensible regulation over know-it-all micromanagement.

“We have known since the beginning that the federal government did not properly evaluate the potential impacts of the changes it made in July 2013,” American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said. “Now, thanks to the hard work of Sen. Collins and many others, we have a common-sense solution. Suspending these restrictions until all the proper research can be done is a reasonable step.”

“Suspending” is an important word here. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, or Cromnibus, only lasts through Sept. 30, the end of the 2015 fiscal year.

Therefore, it is possible that truckers will see a mad scramble starting around Labor Day, with Congress and FMCSA trying to figure out what will happen with HOS on Oct. 1. Congress has told the agency to report on the provision’s health changes, another decision we welcome.

Considering the meager output by the Congress that just concluded, it’s rather appalling that the federal government had to be funded in this last-second, slapdash sort of way before yielding to the newly elected Congress.

We regret the lack of regular order that is always a goal of the appropriations committees in both chambers but also something that never seems to occur.

There is some solace, though, in having 9½ months of budget stability without hysterical threats of federal shutdowns. Set your expectations low enough, and there’s no end to the amount of happiness you can enjoy.

For our last issue of the year, we’ll simply close with the hope that next year may be an even stronger one for freight haulers and their suppliers, as well as maybe the dawn of a new multiyear surface transportation plan.