FMCSA plans tweaks to Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration soon plans to propose changes to its Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.

According to the most recent Unified Regulatory Agenda, the agency is scheduled to unveil a notice of proposed rulemaking in March.

“Based on experience in administering the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse requirements, FMCSA is proposing changes to streamline and improve error-correction procedures, queries and consent requirements,” the agenda stated.

The Clearinghouse is an online database that gives employers, the FMCSA, state driver licensing agencies and state law enforcement information about commercial drivers’ drug and alcohol violations. It contains records of positive drug or alcohol test results, test refusals and when a driver completed the return-to-duty process.

A December 2016 final rule to establish the Clearinghouse was mandated by Congress in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. Owner-operators operating under their own authority were required to run their first query in 2021.

It isn’t clear exactly what changes the FMCSA will propose, but more details will be revealed when the notice of proposed rulemaking is published in the Federal Register later this year.

Other agenda items

Also in March, FMCSA is expected to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding unsatisfactory motor carriers and a notice of proposed rulemaking on automatic emergency braking.

FMCSA hopes to identify unfit carriers and remove them from the roadways.

The agency also is expected to seek public input on potential changes to the current three-tier safety fitness rating structure of satisfactory, conditional and unsatisfactory. The action also is expected to include a review of the list of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations that FMCSA uses in its safety fitness rating methodology.

FMCSA is expected to issue a joint proposal with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding automatic emergency braking on heavy-duty trucks.

The rulemaking is expected to propose performance standards and motor carrier maintenance requirements for automatic emergency brakes on heavy trucks and accompanying test procedures for measuring performance.

Other big-ticket items for FMCSA in 2023 involve speed limiters, electronic IDs and revisions to the electronic logging device mandate. LL