Over the past decade, ATA has led the industry's successful efforts to bring about more commonsense HOS rules.  Responding to an ATA supported Congressional mandate in the ICC Termination Act of 1995, FMCSA eventually undertook a review and revision of the longstanding hours of service regulations.  As a result, “revised” rules were issued in 2003. 

On three separate occasions since then, special interest groups have challenged the rules by bringing suit against FMCSA.  In the first two instances, the Court did not find fault with the rules themselves - but did find fault with the agency for failing to meet a number of procedural rulemaking requirements.  As a result, the agency was forced to conduct additional rulemakings to address these procedural steps, but in both cases reissued the rules in virtually the same form, with one exception.  In 2005, FMCSA reduced drivers’ flexibility to split off-duty time when using the sleeper berth by requiring that one of the sleeper berth periods be at least 8 hours in length.

The most recent court action resulted in a settlement agreement in which FMCSA consented to reevaluating the regulations.   As a first step in this process, FMCSA recently completed a series of public listening sessions on the hours of service rules to gather public input.   The settlement agreement next calls for the agency to submit a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget by July 2010.  Staff Contacts: Dave Osiecki and Rob Abbott.