FMCSA receives petitions for waivers from rest break preemption

Back in August, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration opened the door for groups to petition the agency for waivers regarding previous decisions to preempt meal and rest break rules in California and Washington.

Four organizations, a state and one individual took FMCSA up on its offer.

In a notice scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Dec. 26, FMCSA said it received petitions for waivers from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Parents Against Tired Truckers, California, and William B. Trescott.

California and Washington both have rest break laws that are more stringent than those required by FMCSA. In 2018, FMCSA granted petitions from the American Trucking Associations and the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association to preempt California’s meal and rest break rules because they were “incompatible” with federal regulations. In 2020, FMCSA granted a similar petition from the Washington Trucking Associations in regard to the state’s break rules.

This past August, however, FMCSA announced it was soliciting petitions for waivers from its previous preemption decisions.

The four organizations and Trescott submitted petitions requesting that FMCSA waive its determinations for California and Washington, while California’s petition focuses only on its state.

Once the notice is published in the Federal Register, FMCSA will accept comments on the petitions for 60 days.

The agency requests commenters address the following issues:

• Whether and to what extent enforcement of a state’s meal and rest break laws with respect to intrastate property-carrying and passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers has impacted the health and safety of drivers
• Whether enforcement of state meal and rest break laws as applied to interstate property-carrying or passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers will exacerbate the existing truck parking shortages and result in more trucks parking on the side of the road and whether any such effect will burden interstate commerce or create additional dangers to drivers and the public
• Whether enforcement of a state’s meal and rest break laws as applied to interstate property-carrying or passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers will dissuade carriers from operating in that state
• Whether enforcement of a state’s meal and rest break laws as applied to interstate property-carrying or passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers will weaken or otherwise impact the resiliency of the national supply chain

To comment, go to regulations.gov and enter either FMCSA-2018-0304, FMCSA-2019-0048 or FMCSA-2019-0128. LL