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Transportation Updates and

Regulatory News (TURN)

A quarterly publication of the Agricultural Marketing Service

www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/transportation/turn

Second Quarter (July, August, September)

November 2018

Final Rule Allows States to Waive 

Commercial Learner’s Permit 

Requirements for Military Drivers

On September 28, 2018, the Federal Motor 

Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) 

announced States will have the option to waive 

the requirements for the commercial learner’s 

permit (CLP) knowledge test for certain 

individuals who currently are, or were, regularly 

employed, within the last year, in a military 

position requiring the operation of a 

commercial motor vehicle (CMV). The final rule 

includes the option for a State to waive the 

tests required for a tank vehicle endorsement, 

or hazardous material endorsement, with proof 

of training and experience.

In combination with the military Commercial 

Driver’s License (CDL) rule published on October 

13, 2016 (81 FR 70634), this new rule gives 

States the option to waive both the CDL 

knowledge and driving skills tests for certain 

current and former military service members. 

Those service members must have received 

training to operate CMVs during active duty, 

National Guard, or reserve service, in military 

vehicles comparable to CMVs. Certain current 

or former military drivers, domiciled in 

participating States, will be allowed to 

transition to a civilian CDL more quickly due to 

their armed forces training and experience. 

Documents and comments are available in 

Docket No. FMCSA-2017-0047.

American Trucking Association’s 

California Meal Rest Break Preemption 

Petition Announced

On September 28, 2018, FMCSA announced the 

American Trucking Associations (ATA) petition

requesting FMCSA’s determination that the 

State of California’s meal and rest break rules 

are preempted by Federal law. According to the 
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announcement, California generally requires 

employers in the transportation industry to 

provide employees with an off-duty 30-minute 

break for every five hours worked, before the 

end of each five-hour period; and a ten-minute 

off-duty break for every four-hour period (or 

"major fraction thereof," i.e., period greater 

than two hours), in the middle of each such 

period if possible. Commercial drivers covered 

by collective bargaining agreements that meet 

certain statutorily enumerated criteria, 

however, are not subject to the meal period 

requirement. Among other things, FMCSA 

requested comments, by October 29, on what 

effect, if any, California’s meal and rest break 

requirements may have on interstate 

commerce. Documents and comments are 

available in Docket No. FMCSA-2018-0304.

Rulemaking on Broker and Freight 

Forwarder Financial Responsibility 

Announced

On September 27, 2018, FMCSA announced it is 

considering adopting a rule to immediately 

suspend any broker’s/freight forwarder’s 

operating authority when there is an actual 

drawdown on the bond/trust fund below the 

$75,000 minimum as required by Congress, or 

when the broker/freight forwarder does not 

respond after the surety/trust fund provider 

provides notice of a valid claim, such as from a 

trucking company. The advance notice of 

proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) is part of the 

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century 

Act (MAP-21). MAP-21 raised the financial 

security amount for brokers to $75,000 and, for 

the first time, established financial security 

requirements for freight forwarders.

Eight separate areas are covered under the 

rulemaking: (1) group surety bonds/trust funds; 

(2) assets readily available; (3) immediate 

suspension of broker/freight forwarder 

operating authority; (4) surety or trust 

responsibilities in cases of broker/freight 

forwarder financial failure or insolvency; (5) 

enforcement authority; (6) entities eligible to 

provide trust funds from form BMC-85 trust 

fund filings; (7) form BMC-84 and BMC-85 trust 

fund revisions; and (8) household goods. 

Documents, as well as comments and data are 

requested by November 26, 2018, may be 

viewed in Docket No. FMCSA-2016-0102.

Customers Using Port Drayage 

Trucking in California to Share Legal 

Responsibility and Liability

On September 22, 2018, California Senate Bill 

No. 1402 became law, providing joint legal 

responsibility and liability for unsatisfied 

judgments against port drayage motor carriers 

for unpaid wages, damages, unreimbursed 

expenses, and penalties with customers that 

use port drayage motor carriers. The law 

applies in cases where the customer received 

advance notice of a port drayage trucking 

company’s record of unsatisfied judgments for 

labor law violations, including misclassification 

of drivers as independent contractors. 

Customers and port drayage motor carriers are 

prohibited from taking any adverse action 

against drivers, who provide notification of 

violations or file a claim or civil action. The 

Labor Commissioner and the Employment 

Development Department will adopt necessary 

regulations and rules to administer and enforce 

the law, effective January 1, 2019.

Comments Available Concerning 

Revising the Hours-of-Service 

Regulations for Drivers

On September 20, 2018, FMCSA extended the 

comment period on revising the current hoursof-service (HOS) regulations for interstate truck 

drivers, to October 10, 2018. FMCSA initiated 

the ANPRM on August 23, 2018, in response to 

widespread Congressional, industry, and citizen 

concerns about HOS regulations, and is seeking 
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answers to determine if HOS revisions may 

alleviate unnecessary burdens placed on 

drivers, while maintaining safety on our nation’s 

highways and roads. According to FMCSA, the 

congressionally mandated electronic logging 

device (ELD) rule, which required most FMCSAregulated motor carriers to convert their 

records from paper to an electronic format, 

brought focus to HOS regulations. Those 

regulations having a significant impact on 

agriculture and other sectors of trucking are of 

particular interest for review.

In support of the rulemaking, FMCSA scheduled 

five public listening sessions in 2018: Dallas, 

Texas on Friday, August 24; Reno, Nevada on 

Saturday, September 22; Joplin, Missouri on 

Friday, September 28; Orlando, Florida on 

Tuesday, October 2; and Washington, DC on 

Wednesday, October 10. Recorded live streams 

and transcripts of the listening sessions; 

answers to FMCSA questions; documents and 

comments are available, in Docket No. FMCSA2018-0248.

The four specific areas under consideration for 

revision by FMCSA are:

• Expanding the current 100 air-mile “shorthaul” exemption, from 12 hours on-duty to 

14 hours on-duty, to be consistent with the 

rules for long-haul truck drivers;

• Extending the current 14-hour on-duty 

limitation, by up to two hours, when a truck 

driver encounters adverse driving 

conditions;

• Revising the current mandatory 30-minute 

break for truck drivers after 8-hours of 

continuous driving; and 

• Reinstating the option for splitting up the 

required 10-hour off-duty rest break for 

drivers operating trucks that are equipped 

with a sleeper-berth compartment.

FMCSA also asked for data and answers to 

questions on two petitions requesting 

regulatory relief. The first petition pertaining to 

the 14-hour on-duty limitation, was filed by the 

Owner-Operators Independent Drivers 

Association (OOIDA). OOIDA would like all 

drivers to be able to pause the consecutive 14-

hour on-duty time, by up to 3 consecutive offduty hours. According to OOIDA’s petition, 

drivers would still take at least 10 hours offduty before starting a new 14-hour on-duty 

period.

The second petition, pertaining to the 10-hour 

off-duty requirement, was filed by 

TruckerNation.org. TruckerNation.org would 

like all drivers to be able to split the consecutive 

10-hour off-duty requirement, with a minimum 

of 3 consecutive off-duty hours, to equal 10 

hours off-duty.

With the off-duty flexibility requested in each 

petition, OOIDA and TruckerNation.org want 

FMCSA to eliminate the 30-minute off-duty rest 

break requirement, which currently applies if 

more than 8 hours have passed since the end of 

the driver’s last off-duty or sleeper-berth period 

of at least 30 minutes.

With regard to what is under consideration in 

the HOS rulemaking and advocated in the two 

petitions, on August 28, 2018, the American 

Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) 

released an analysis on the potential benefits of 

allowing flexibility for drivers to take off-duty 

breaks. “ATRI utilized empirical truck GPS data 

to model the application of split rest beyond 

the current 8- and 2-hour increments allowed 

under the existing HOS rules. Through this 

analysis it was found that drivers could spend 

less time and money, driving the same distances 

behind the wheel,” by going off-duty for short 

periods of time instead of continuing to drive 

during periods of highway congestion.
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Comments Available on “Improving 

Motor Carrier Safety Measurement”

On August 21, 2018, FMCSA requested 

comments, by October 22, on 3 of the 6 

recommendations presented in the summary of 

the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report, 

‘‘Improving Motor Carrier Safety 

Measurement.’’ Documents and comments are 

available in Docket No. FMCSA-2017-0226.

The NAS report was commissioned by FMCSA, 

under Section 5221, Correlation Study, of the 

Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) 

Act. FMCSA developed a corrective action plan

for Congress and the U.S. Department of 

Transportation’s (DOT) Office of Inspector 

General (OIG) on June 25; withdrew proposed 

enhancements to the Safety Measurement 

System (SMS) on July 16; and held a public 

meeting on August 29. SMS is FMCSA's 

algorithm for identifying patterns of noncompliance and prioritizing motor carriers for 

interventions. FMCSA is prohibited from 

publishing SMS percentiles and alerts on the 

SMS website, for motor carriers transporting 

property, until the NAS study is complete and 

all reporting and certification requirements 

under the FAST Act are satisfied. FMCSA’s 

corrective action plan includes solicitation of 

input from the public for NAS recommendations 

number 2, 3, and 4 that are the subject of this 

rulemaking:

• NAS Recommendation 2: FMCSA should 

continue to collaborate with States, and 

other agencies, to improve the quality of 

the Motor Carrier Management Information 

System (MCMIS) data in SMS, with 

immediate attention to carrier exposure 

and crash data;

• NAS Recommendation 3: FMCSA should 

investigate ways of collecting data that will 

likely benefit the recommended 

methodology for safety assessment. This 

includes data on carrier characteristics—

such as information on driver turnover rate, 

type of cargo, method and level of 

compensation, and better information on 

exposure; and

• NAS Recommendation 4: FMCSA should 

structure a user-friendly version of the 

MCMIS data file used as input to SMS, 

without any personally identifiable 

information, to facilitate its use by external 

parties, such as researchers and carriers.

NAS recommendations number 1, 5, and 6, 

while not a part of this rulemaking, are included 

in FMCSA’s corrective action plan:

• NAS Recommendation 1: FMCSA should 

develop the suggested Item Response 

Theory (IRT) model over the next 2 years. If 

it is then demonstrated to perform well in 

identifying motor carriers for alerts, FMCSA 

should use it to replace SMS in a manner 

akin to the way SMS replaced SafeStat;

• NAS Recommendation 5: FMCSA should 

undertake a study to better understand the 

statistical operating characteristics of the 

percentile ranks to support decisions 

regarding the usability of public scores; and

• NAS Recommendation 6: Given that there 

are good reasons for both an absolute and a 

relative metric on safety performance, 

FMCSA should decide on the carriers that 

receive SMS alerts using both the SMS 

percentile ranks and the SMS measures, 

and the percentile ranks should be 

computed both conditionally within safety 

event groups and over all motor carriers.

Fees for the Unified Carrier 

Registration Plan and Agreement to be 

Reduced

On August 21, 2018, FMCSA requested

comments on reductions in the annual 

registration fees States collect from motor 

carriers, motor private carriers of property, 

brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing 
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companies, for the Unified Carrier Registration 

(UCR) Plan and Agreement for the 2019, 2020, 

and subsequent registration years. The 

proposed fees for the 2019 registration year 

would be reduced below the 2017 registration 

fee level, which was in effect, by approximately 

17.59 percent to ensure that fee revenues do 

not exceed the statutory maximum, and to 

account for the excess funds held in the 

depository. The proposed fees for the 2020 

registration year would be reduced below the 

2017 level by approximately 9.5 percent. The 

reduction of the current 2019 registration year 

fees (finalized on January 5, 2018) would range 

from approximately $10 to $9,530 per entity, 

depending on the number of vehicles owned or 

operated by the affected entities. The reduction 

in fees, for subsequent registration years, would 

range from approximately $4 to $3,565 per 

entity. Documents and comments are available 

in Docket No. FMCSA-2018-0068.

2018 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and 

Bus Statistics Available

On August 18, 2018, FMCSA published the 2018 

Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics. 

This guide highlights FMCSA’s role in 

enforcement and in collecting and analyzing 

crash data and statistics to support its mission 

to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related 

fatalities and injuries. Sections include: Motor 

Carrier Management Information System; large 

trucks and buses overview; roadside inspections 

and violations; investigations; crashes; data 

quality; grant programs; and agency resources.

American Transportation Research 

Institute Crash Predictor Model 

Updated

On July 31, 2018, the American Transportation 

Research Institute (ATRI) released an updated

Crash Predictor Model, “which statistically 

quantifies the likelihood of future crash 

involvement based on specific truck driving 

behaviors (e.g. prior crashes, violations and 

convictions).” ATRI highlighted several key 

findings in their press release:

• The top two behaviors for predicting future 

crash involvement, each with more than 

100 percent increased likelihood of a future 

crash, are a reckless driving violation and a 

failure to yield right of way violation.

• Prior crash involvement continues to have a 

statistically significant relationship to future 

crash involvement with a 74 percent 

increase of the likelihood of being in a 

future crash.

• Women truck drivers were safer than male 

counterparts, in every statistically 

significant safety behavior, and men were 

20 percent more likely to be involved in a 

crash than women. Several stable behaviors 

have emerged, across all three ATRI Crash 

Predictor Models (2005, 2011 and 2018), as 

statistically significant predictors of future 

crash involvement; including convictions for 

improper lane/location, 

reckless/careless/inattentive/negligent 

driving, and improper or erratic lane 

change.

Small Business in Transportation 

Coalition Request for Exemption from 

ELD Requirements

On July 9, 2018, FMCSA extended the comment 

period to July 16, 2018 on the Small Business in 

Transportation Coalition (SBTC) request for an 

exemption from the ELD requirements, for all 

motor carriers with fewer than 50 employees. 

This includes, but is not limited to, one-person 

private and for-hire owner-operators of 

commercial motor vehicles used in interstate 

commerce. Documents and comments are 

available in Docket No. FMCSA-2018-0180.
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Update on Pilot for 18-21-Year-Old ExMilitary Drivers to Operate Vehicles in 

Interstate Commerce

On July 6, 2018, FMCSA published the details 

and FMCSA’ responses to comments on the 3-

year pilot program to allow a limited number of 

individuals, ages 18 to 20, to operate 

commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate 

commerce, if they received specified heavyvehicle driver training while in military service 

and were hired by a participating motor carrier. 

In a separate July 6, 2018, notice, FMCSA asked 

for comments on the information to be 

collected during the pilot program. “This 

program will allow our Veterans and Reservists, 

to translate their extensive training into goodpaying jobs, operating commercial vehicles 

safely across the country, while also addressing 

the nationwide driver shortage,” said U.S. 

Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao. 

Documents and comments are available in 

Docket No. FMCSA-2017-0196 for the 

information collection, and Docket No. FMCSA2016-0069 for the pilot program.

Highway Freight Conditions and 

Performance Report Provided to 

Congress

On July 6, 2018, the Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA) issued the first ever 

Highway Freight Conditions and Performance 

Report on the National Highway Freight 

Network (NHFN). The report uses data from 

FHWA’s Freight Performance Measurement 

program to analyze the impacts of congestion 

and determine the operational capacity and 

efficiency of key freight routes throughout the 

United States. The latest data show the 

National Highway System is handling a record 

amount of freight, with trucks moving nearly 60 

percent of the nation’s total freight volume 

(representing 30 million tons), and close to 70 

percent of total freight value (representing 

about $34 billion), each year. The highway 

system remains the most used mode of 

transport for freight by tonnage and value of 

goods moved.

United States Transportation Alliance 

Files Petition with FMCSA

On July 3, 2018, FMCSA received a petition from 

the United States Transportation Alliance 

(USTA), which proposes revisions to hours of 

service and other rules. USTA proposes a 14/8/2 

plan for a driver’s work week of 80 hours in 7 

days, with 14 flexible daily hours each day for 

work or driving; 8 flexible hours for sleeper 

berth; and 2 hours for personal use. Time spent 

loading and unloading would be subtracted 

from the 14 hours and all remaining hours could 

be used for driving. The 8-hour sleeper berth 

time could be split in combinations of 2 hours 

and 6 hours, 3 hours and 5 hours, and a full 8 

hours sleeper time for single drivers and split 

sleeper berth every 6 hours, with a 4-hour 

minimum, for team drivers. The work week 

could be reset after 24 hours off-duty. Empty 

trucks could be used as personal conveyance to 

the driver’s residence or company terminal. 

Loaded trucks could be used as a personal 

conveyance to safe parking within a 75 air-mile 

radius from the last shipper or receiver. The 

agricultural exemption would apply to a 250-

mile radius of the source and to a 200-mile 

radius of the destination, with total time in one 

day not to exceed 18 hours.

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