It’s not exactly a four-letter word, but it certainly isn’t a pleasant three-letter acronym either. Welcome to the helm of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Miss Ferro. You are the proud owner of the never-ending debate and tweaking of hours of service (HOS) regulations.
Back on Oct. 26, 2009, the FMCSA agreed to settlement terms with certain interest groups that force the FMCSA to review the current HOS rule and submit a notice of proposed rulemaking on the rule to the White House within nine months. That means the FMCSA has until the end of July to comply with the settlement. Then, it has up to 21 months to issue a final rule to replace the current one.
Some groups, like the American Trucking Association, question whether the rules need to be redeveloped. There is evidence that the current HOS rules have been working, and have decreased fatalities and injuries. Specifically, ATA cites that the number of truck-involved fatalities has decreased by 19 percent since the new HOS rules took effect, and the number of injuries has decreased by 13 percent since 2004.
But the evidence is lost on groups like Public Citizen and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, just to name a couple. So it is irrelevant that the current HOS rules are working because of the settlement.
The concern among the advocacy groups with the current HOS regulations is that drivers are behind the wheel far too long. Drivers can work longer hours than before, and the off-duty rest and recovery time was reduced from before. Some even suggest the current HOS regulations pit driver health against company profit.
Out of necessity, FMCSA’s new director, Anne Ferro, wasted little time in beginning her work on the issue. In January the FCMSA held three public “listening” sessions on HOS. The reality is that the listening sessions are nothing more than a recorded informal discussion. They are not “official” public comment periods, yet they can be important in setting the foundation for future actions.
Ferro said, “The public listening sessions will provide opportunities for a broad cross-section of stakeholders to present views, comments and relevant research on this forthcoming federal safety regulation proposal.”
Once the public listening sessions conclude, the FMCSA will review the comments made during these sessions and determine which direction they wish to go. What we do know is that they will have only six months to then submit a notice of proposed rulemaking on the rule to the White House.
There are some interest groups already positioning themselves for future litigation, regardless of the outcome of any new rule design. Daphne Izer, co-founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers, said in October 2009, “The bad news is that the Obama administration nominee to lead the federal agency responsible for issuing this new rule is a trucking industry lobbyist. This nomination puts the trucking industry in the driver’s seat and will detour any meaningful and overdue reforms.”
The result of the October 2009 settlement is that the HOS rules will be changed – there’s really no option. How much they change, though, is the real issue. The Obama administration will see pressure from groups that traditionally support those in the Democrat party, so it may be difficult to not make significant changes. Ferro will also be under extreme scrutiny on this issue because of her past in the trucking industry, so it will be interesting to see if or how she compensates for that.
It appears the little three-letter acronym “HOS” will continue to be synonymous with your more traditional four-letter words. It’s a complicated and highly controversial issue that, regardless of the science and evidence, is also encompassed by deep-seated emotions. Ferro has a difficult task as a result of the settlement, and the actions of the FMCSA on this will certainly have an impact on your wallet.
Keep an eye on the progress of this, and comment when and where appropriate. But, regardless of what happens this go-around, you can almost be certain the issue will come up again shortly after.
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