U.S. Legislative Issues

On July 1 drivers of property carrying commercial motor vehicles will be required to meet the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new hours of service regulations. DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) promulgated these new regulations in December 2011 with the intent to promote safety and to protect the health of drivers. By allowing drivers ample opportunity to get the proper amount of rest, the regulations are intended to help reduce crashes by reducing driver fatigue. 

• The rule for property-carrying drivers:
• May drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty;
• May not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty;
• May drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver’s last off-duty or sleeper berth period of at least 30 minutes;
• May not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days.
• A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty. Must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. home terminal time, and
• May only be used once per week, or 168 hours, measured from the beginning of the previous restart.

Court challenges to the rule are currently being deliberated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

FMCSA has available a visor card for drivers that explains the rule at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/hos/HOS-Regulations-7-1-2013.pdf


On Tuesday, June 25, President Barack Obama presented a far-reaching set of proposals, including new fuel economy standards for heavy duty vehicles. The proposals are meant to address the causes of climate change, headlined by a new directive to begin limiting carbon emissions for new and existing power plants and the announcement of high environmental standards for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline to be met before his administration signs off on the project. The president outlined a series of climate proposals he intended to advance through executive action and bypassing Congress.

The proposals include:

• Issue a presidential memorandum to launch the first-ever federal regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants.
• Finalize proposed limits on carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants without further delay.
• Provide up to $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to spur investment in efficiency projects and advanced fossil energy, including technology to limit carbon emissions.
• Expand permitting for renewable energy projects like wind and solar on public lands, with a goal of powering more than 6 million homes by 2020.
• Set a goal of installing 100 megawatts of renewable energy projects on federally assisted housing projects by 2020.
• Take more aggressive steps to increase efficiency for appliances and federal buildings, with a goal of reducing carbon dioxide pollution by 3 billion metric tons overall by 2030.