FMCSA publishes restart rollback notice, says it will publish another when rollback ends

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published Monday, Dec. 22, a notice in the Federal Register announcing the suspension of enforcement of the two hours-of-service provisions rolled back by the 2015 appropriations act passed by Congress and signed by the president last week.

The rule suspension became effective immediately upon the president’s signing last Tuesday. The law required the agency to post the notice, however.

Clearing up some grey area of the language of the appropriations law, FMCSA says it will issue another Federal Register notice when the rules “regain their legal force and effect,” which will come no later than Sept. 30, 2015, and only after the agency has completed a study required by the law.

The law requires FMCSA to perform a study of the rules and their effects on drivers, carriers and safety before they can go back into effect.

Until then, drivers may abide by pre-2013 restart rules, meaning a 34-hour restart does not have to include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. The once-a-week limit has also been removed.