This past Tuesday (12/16), President Obama signed into law legislation funding the federal government through September 2015. Contained in the legislation is a provision that temporarily suspends the two restrictions that had been placed on the use of the 34-hour restart: the two 1 a.m. - 5 a.m. periods and the once-a-week use requirements. Following President Obama’s signature, the use of the 34-hour restart provision reverted to the pre-July 2013 standard, meaning drivers who need to restart their weekly on-duty clock after having been on-duty for 60 hours in seven days, or 70 hours in eight days, now can simply go off-duty for 34 consecutive hours. Drivers no longer will need to take the restart provision over two night periods and they can use the restart provision more than once per week.

However, since this is a spending bill that only lasts through the end of Fiscal Year 2015 (September 30, 2015), it means that the 34-hour restart change also only is effective through September 2015. To be clear, all other HOS provisions remain in effect, including the 30-minute break provision, 11-hours driving time and the 14-hour driving window.

While most drivers in the ready mixed concrete industry are able to take advantage of the construction materials delivery 24-hour restart exception [49 CFR 395.1(m)], drivers in the industry who drive commercial motor vehicles to haul cement or aggregates are required to use the 34-hour restart. Cement and aggregate haulers, or mixer drivers who frequently switch to either of these driving functions, will be the select few that be impacted by the change.

To summarize:

• Drivers using the 34-hour restart do NOT have to have two periods off-duty between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. to fulfill the restart requirement;
• Drivers can use the 34-hour restart more than once per week;
• This change is temporary and will only last through September 30, 2015; and 
• All other provisions of the HOS rules remain unchanged.