Key Senate Committee Proposes Changes to Hours of Service Regulations

Last week, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a markup hearing on, S. 1732, the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act of 2015, which will provide key reforms and funding to highway and passenger rail safety for six years. The mark included several reforms to rules issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), including the highly contentious Hours of Service rule made permanent in 2011.

Included in Section 2302 (Petitions for Regulatory Relief), is language which allows industries to petition the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for temporary and permanent exemptions from Hours of Service regulations. This process would mirror the petitions' process already in place via regulation, but with a clear timetable for consideration. Also included is language in the provision to make permanent several temporary exemptions granted by FMCSA through the regulatory petitions process – one of which is NRMCA’s 30-minute break provision for the ready mixed concrete industry given by FMCSA in April 2015.

NRMCA, along with members of the Highway Materials Group and the North American Concrete Alliance as well as 125 association member companies, sent letters to the Commerce Committee in support of S. 1732 and Section 2302. The Commerce title will now be combined with the other transportation titles before moving to the floor for a full vote in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) set in motion a procedural vote on the highway bill on Tuesday, July 21.