Compliance date for FMCSA’s Clearinghouse rule approaching
An important compliance date is approaching for truck drivers who carry a prohibited status in FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.
In November 2021, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published a final rule that would require state driver licensing agencies to remove commercial learner’s permit or CDL privileges from people who fall into the prohibited status due to one or more drug and alcohol program violations.
Once downgraded, commercial motor vehicle privileges can be reinstated only after the driver complies with return-to-duty requirements.
The deadline for states to enforce the regulation is Nov. 18.
First Clearinghouse rule
The agency’s first Clearinghouse rule, which took effect in 2020, required employers to query the Clearinghouse for drug and alcohol violations from current and prospective employees prior to allowing them to operate a commercial motor vehicle. Additionally, employers are required to run a query on all employees annually.
According to FMCSA, the second Clearinghouse rule “will improve the enforcement of the current driving prohibition by requiring that states refrain from issuing, renewing, transferring or upgrading the CLP or CDL of affected drivers.”
Under the second phase, state driver licensing agencies will be required to:
- Query the Clearinghouse before issuing, renewing, upgrading or transferring CDLs and issuing, renewing and upgrading commercial learner’s permits
- Review a driver’s information when notified by FMCSA of a driver’s Clearinghouse status change
According to the July 2024 Clearinghouse Report, a total of 175,650 CLP and CDL holders currently carry a prohibited status. Of those drivers, 133,414 have not begun the return-to-duty process.
Taylor Richey with CMCI, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s drug and alcohol consortium, said drivers who currently carry a prohibited status will want to complete the return-to-duty process before the Nov. 18 compliance date. If they don’t, those drivers could be subject to fines or other requirements implemented by the state where their CDL was issued prior to having their commercial vehicle privileges reinstated. LL