E-log mandate rule projected to come this month, driver database rule this week

In its monthly update on significant rulemakings, the Department of Transportation has again revised the projected date of publication for a rule mandating Electronic Logging Devices (also known as Electronic Onboard Recorders) for all drivers subject to keeping records of duty status, backing it up this time to Feb. 27.

This is the third month in a row the DOT’s report has projected a date later in the same month, but in both December and January, no rule came, and the rule still has yet to clear the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. The current DOT report predicts that the rule will clear OMB Friday, Feb. 14.

Upon publication, the proposed rule would have a 60-day comment period ending April 30.

Also updated in the DOT report is the status of the drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule, which cleared the OMB Jan. 27 and is now projected to be published Friday, Feb. 14. The rule would establish a database of drivers who have failed or refused to take a drug or alcohol test, and carriers would be required to upload test refusals or failures to the database. Carriers could also query the database when screening drivers.

It too will have a 60-day comment period, ending April 14.

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The Carrier Safety Fitness Determination rule is still projected to be published in early August, per the report. The rule would allow the agency to change the methodology with which it calculates carriers’ Safety Fitness Determination scores, allowing it to use data from roadside inspections, crashes, investigations and violation history — a very similar data set as used in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program’s Safety Measurement Score.

The DOT report also still projects its driver coercion to be published April 23. The rule would create a requirement that the agency “consider whether coercion of drivers” by shippers, receivers, carriers or brokers “is a concern when developing a rule.”