Article Summary
FMCSA and other federal agencies have released timelines for dozens of upcoming trucking regulations, including rules on broker transparency, automatic emergency braking, emissions standards, and driver English language proficiency, expected to publish between July and November.
- Broker transparency rule: FMCSA plans to publish a supplemental proposal this month (July) potentially requiring brokers to make freight transactions more transparent, after missing the May deadline.
- Automatic emergency braking: A joint NHTSA and FMCSA supplemental proposal on heavy-duty truck AEB systems is expected by end of July.
- NOx emissions standards: EPA will propose reconsideration of 2027 heavy-duty engine nitrogen oxide limits that require 80% reductions below current standards and extended warranties to 450,000 miles.
- Safety rating procedures: FMCSA plans an NPRM by November to improve methods for identifying and removing unfit motor carriers from roadways.
- English language proficiency: An NPRM from FMCSA this month could codify ELP requirements as an out-of-service violation for commercial drivers.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has indicated that it could finally move on broker transparency, automatic emergency braking and dozens of other regulations in the coming months.
Departments and agencies across the federal government updated their timelines for in-progress regulations, unveiled in the White House’s "2026 Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.”
Among the Department of Transportation’s rules are some four dozen from FMCSA alone, though some had already published by the time the Unified Agenda was published in early July. Some other trucking-related rules from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency also feature in the update.
Many rules are expected to have proposals or final versions published this month or later in the year, though missed deadlines are not uncommon with regulatory agendas. Below are some of the more high-profile trucking regulations on the docket for the coming months.
Broker transparency
A big percentage of Overdrive readers could get their wish if FMCSA sticks its timeline for the long-awaited update to the “Transparency in Property Broker Transactions” rulemaking, last set to publish by the end of May this year. It obviously missed that deadline, and will publish by the end of this month if FMCSA sticks to the agenda's timeline.
The forthcoming notice will not be a final rule version of the changes proposed in late 2024, however. Instead, FMCSA has July’s update classified as a “Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM),” typically issued when a proposed rule has been changed significantly. The agency in the Spring 2025 Regulatory Agenda published in September called the upcoming notice a “second notice of proposed rulemaking.”
Whether or not FMCSA’s proposal to make brokered freight transparency a “regulatory obligation” for brokers will stay in the proposal remains to be seen.
A recent Overdrive survey of owner-operators found more than half of respondents strongly favored FMCSA's late-2024 proposal as written, and a third of respondents urged regulators to "move faster to finalize the proposal and get it across the finish line."
[Related: Transparency: FMCSA proposes 'regulatory obligation' for brokers]
Automatic emergency braking
Another controversial rulemaking notice expected this month is related to automatic emergency braking on heavy-duty trucks. A joint NPRM was issued in 2023 by NHTSA and FMCSA, but no further action was taken.
The agencies are now planning to publish a Supplemental NPRM -- again, a proposal with potentially significant changes from the first proposal -- by the end of July.
The 2023 AEB proposal drew criticism and concerns from many owner-operators and truck drivers, who provided cautionary tales about false activations of the systems hitting brakes hard when it made no sense to. Some trucking and safety advocacy organizations supported the first proposal.
[Related: AEBs ready for prime time? False-positive reports cast doubt]
Heavy-duty NOx emissions standards
As promised in March 2025 by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, his agency is planning to publish this month an NPRM “to reconsider the criteria pollutant standards program established in the January 2023 final rule” that set nitrogen oxides emissions standards for model year 2027 and later heavy-duty engines.
That rule required the tightening of NOx emissions to a limit level 80%-plus below the current standard and reducing the particulate matter limit by 50%. It also required that truck makers extend warranties to 450,000 miles from 100,000 and useful life limits to 650,000 miles from 435,000 miles.
Truck and engine OEMs already have 2027-compliant engines in the pipeline for the 2027 model year; it’s unclear what a proposal to reconsider the rulemaking will accomplish.
EPA has been on a tear lately, however, rolling back truck emissions regulations, including doing away with the 5-mph DEF derate.
[Related: EPA won't delay 2027 NOx rule, but plans 'major changes']
Safety rating, safety fitness
After accepting comments on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in 2023, FMCSA plans to move forward with an NPRM by the end of November. It was previously expected by the end of May this year.
The rulemaking could propose ways to more effectively identify unfit motor carriers and to remove them from the nation's roadways.
“FMCSA would seek public comment about the use of available safety data, including inspection data, in determining carrier fitness to operate,” the agency said in the updated agenda. “FMCSA undertook steps to engage the public and held a series of public listening sessions to inform potential updates to its methodology for determining whether a motor carrier is not fit to operate commercial motor vehicles, including possible changes to the current three-tier safety fitness rating structure.”
Currently, FMCSA uses an analysis of existing motor carrier data and data collected during a compliance review, either on-site or remotely through a review of records. The agency calculates a vehicle out-of-service rate, reviews crash involvement, and conducts an in-depth examination of a motor carrier’s compliance with the acute and critical regulations and hazmat regulations.
English language proficiency
As reported recently, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget received a proposal from FMCSA related to English language proficiency and the Out-of-Service Criteria. With the updated agenda, the agency offered clues for what that proposal could entail.
The new proposal “is to examine the English Language Proficiency qualification requirements in 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2) to determine whether they should be codified as an out of service violation,” FMCSA said. It expects to publish the NPRM this month.
With the signing of the government funding legislation in February, Congress codified President Trump's English language proficiency (ELP) executive order in law. With that done, the DOT was required to update its regulations to reflect that an out-of-service order is triggered by non-compliance with 49 Code of Federal Regulations 391.11(b)(2), which requires commercial motor vehicle drivers to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”
[Related: FMCSA to update English language proficiency OOS rule]
Side underride guards
While a new proposal or final rule is not currently on the docket, NHTSA noted in the updated agenda that it is analyzing comments this month from a 2023 ANPRM about a potential mandate for side underride guards for trailers. Those guards are designed to mitigate underride crashes pinning vehicles under trailers.
In the last regulatory update, the agency listed “analyzing comments” in January 2026 with no indication of an NPRM or final rule.
Broker and freight forwarder qualifications/knowledge -- new-carrier knowledge, too
As required by the 2012 MAP-21 highway bill, FMCSA is finally planning to propose the implementation of a requirement that “brokers and freight forwarders employ, as an officer, an individual who has either three years of relevant experience or can provide satisfactory evidence of their knowledge of related rules, regulations, and industry practices.”
FMCSA expects this NPRM to publish by the end of September.
The agenda also features a supplemental NPRM related to FMCSA's New Entrant Safety Assurance program auditing new motor carriers. The agency's considering implementation of "a proficiency examination as part of its revised New Entrant Safety Assurance Process, as well as other alternatives."
Such a minimum knowledge testing rulemaking has been scrutinized for much of this century, without resolution. FMCSA's recent-history regulatory agenda earmarked a second advance NPRM to solicit industry input.
Reacting to the Supreme Court's recent ruling removing a federal shield for brokers in personal injury cases in state courts, Owner-Operator Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh signaled some support for new-entrant and broker/forwarder moves, likewise getting recent attention from Congress in the BUILD America 250 Act.
[Related: Owner-ops respond to broker group's freakout over SCOTUS decision]
CDL standards
FMCSA plans to propose changes this month to its regulations to enhance the security standards for state-issued CDLs and commercial learner’s permits (CLPs).
The agency said the new NPRM seeks to “strengthen the integrity of the CDL and CLP issuance process and reduce the risk of fraud” by updating “requirements for document verification and record retention, helping to ensure the identity of CDL and CLP holders and contributing to the safety and security of the nation's transportation system.”
Motor carrier operation of automated driving system (ADS)-equipped trucks
In August, FMCSA is expected to publish an NPRM that proposes changes to the CMV operations, inspection, repair, and maintenance regulations in order to “prioritize safety and security, promote innovation, foster a consistent regulatory approach to ADS-equipped CMVs, and recognize the difference between human operators and ADS.”
[Related: Trucker to Congress: Keep drivers in autonomous trucks]
Entry Level Driver Training provider certifications
Entirely new to the agenda is outlook for an NPRM to "strengthen the standards for initial and continued listing on the Training Provider Registry" for CDL schools, according to the agenda.
In efforts in the last year to clean up the CDL registry, FMCSA ID'd many instances of "non-compliance among certain training providers" on the registry through audits, as reported by Overdrive amid a wave of investigation that pulled the certification of more than 500 schools.
The NPRM could come as early as this month, as envisioned in the agenda, and will seek to even the "playing field for providers that follow the rules" with "stronger oversight and enforcement," FMSCA said. "Strengthening the ELDT program will establish higher standards for entry, require training providers to maintain compliance to remain listed, and ensure the removal of those who do not meet program requirements."
[Related: FMCSA pins 'CDL mills' problem on self-certification: Are owner-ops to blame?]
