FMCSA sends new hours rule to DOT for review

WASHINGTON — U.S. trucking regulators have reportedly wrapped up their hours-of-service rules rewrite and have sent the plan to DOT Secretary Ray LaHood’s office for review.

The DOT has until July 24 to review it. It then will send it back to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for possible revisions.

From there, it will go to the Office of Management and Budget, where officials will consider how the rules impact the economy and other issues.

If everything goes according to plan, a final rule could be published by November 2010.

After defending its 2004 HOS rules for years, the DOT, now under the Obama administration, agreed to take another look at the law and possibly rewrite parts of it.

That came at the behest of special interest groups like public Citizen and the Teamsters, which agreed to cease ongoing litigation against FMCSA if the agency initiated a new rulemaking.