ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Trucking Associations (ATA) filed a lawsuit with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asking the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue a hours-of-service (HOS) supporting documents regulation.

The ATA filed what is referred to as a “mandamus” action by which a court can compel government officials to perform their legal duties.

In the action, ATA is asking the court to require the agency to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) within 60 days of the court’s ruling and a final rule within six months of the NPRM publication date. Actions to require agencies to issue overdue regulations are common and often result in a settlement whereby the agency agrees to act within a negotiated time frame.

“We have a tremendous amount of respect for the Department of Transportation and the work they do, but we had to show the department just how important the supporting documents issue is to our industry,” said ATA president and CEO Bill Graves. “We hope this lawsuit prompts a greater focus on the issue and that the Department will be willing to work with us to get the regulation out within a reasonable time frame.”

The supporting documents refer to the documents a motor carrier must retain for six months that can be used to verify drivers’ HOS records. In 1994, Congress recognized that the failure of the DOT to properly define for motor carriers what constituted a supporting document was imposing a financial and administrative burden on the trucking industry.

Consequently, Congress ordered the agency to promulgate a rule that would designate the “number, type, and frequency of [required] supporting document retention” and to ensure that such retention would be at a “reasonable cost” to motor carriers.

Despite the Congressional directive, which called for a rule to become effective in 1996, the DOT has failed to act, says the ATA. Instead, the agency has by informal guidelines adopted as broad a definition of supporting document retention as is possible, identifying 34 categories of records and ruling that any document that “could” possibly be used to verify HOS records must be retained as a supporting document.

“In order to comply, trucking companies need to know what the rules are,” said Dave Osiecki, ATA senior vice-president of Policy and Regulatory Affairs. “In the case of supporting documentation for hours-of-service, the requirements have never been established by regulation. ATA has been seeking a fair and cost-effective regulation, consistent with federal law, for more than 15 years.”