What problems are FMCSA’s emergency relief ruling solving?
If it’s not broke, fix it anyway.
That seemed to be the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s sentiment last October, when it announced its final rule limiting the amount of regulatory relief that is granted during a regional emergency.
This included federal hours-of-service relief as well as waivers of medical certification of drivers, vehicle inspection requirements, parts and accessories and transportation of hazardous materials.
Initially, the agency sought a five-day window for this relief.
Truckers are a resilient bunch, but five days?
Formal comments on the proposed ruling from OOIDA, state departments of transportation and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, as well as others, led to a small victory as FMCSA moved the goalposts from five days to 14 days.
That’s still a significant change from the previous 30-day period, and as of last December, the new rule is now in effect.
FMCSA said the goal of the rule is to ensure the relief granted is appropriate and tailored to the specific circumstance of an emergency declaration.
Could be.
However, if you’re FMCSA, you literally have entities directly affected by this rule – like those above-mentioned groups that submitted formal comments – telling you that it in fact is not “appropriate or tailored.”
Not to mention, as OOIDA pointed out in its comments, FMCSA acknowledged in writing as part of its proposed rule change in October that it has “no information that suggests that existing emergency exemptions have negatively impacted road safety.”
So, what gives? The “S” in FMCSA still stands for safety, right?
OOIDA along with the National Propane Gas Association petitioned FMCSA to reconsider the rule.
“We still question the need for revising the emergency regulations given the agency’s repeated acknowledgment that there is no evidence of the current emergency rules leading to any degradation of safety,” said Jay Grimes, OOIDA’s director of federal affairs.
As of press time, the final rule published in October remained in effect.
Interstate vs. Intrastate
While FMCSA has drawn its line at 14 days, governors of states have continued to issue declarations waiving regulatory requirements of intrastate operations for a 30-day period, as their jurisdiction allows.
Extensions of emergency declarations were not uncommon when the regulatory relief window was 30 days. With less than half of that period now the norm, even more extensions and more declarations seem all but certain.
Look no further than the effect freezing rain, ice and snow had across much of the country in January. At one point, more than a dozen states had emergency orders in effect. Are widespread power outages, fuel supply issues and damage to public and private property problems that can be remedied in two weeks?
There’s simply no set playbook or predetermined strategy when it comes to emergency situations.
Flexibility, on the other hand, has proven to be effective in times of emergency.
A simple but appropriate question was raised by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who spoke to Land Line Now in late 2023.
“Sometimes you have to ask yourself, ‘What problem is the federal government trying to fix?’” Burgum told Land Line. “In this case, I don’t see a problem. It certainly doesn’t exist in our state.”
Burgum even added some numbers as support. He said 19 of the 28 orders issued while he has been in office remained in effect in excess of 14 days.
Sure, some kind of parameters are needed. But, to Burgum’s point, FMCSA has yet to appropriately explain the logic behind the reduced regulatory relief window.
And as Grimes noted: “State governments and motor carriers should have every resource necessary to address and assist with emergency response efforts.”
FMCSA has created a dedicated email inbox for extension and modification requests. Hopefully, someone will be tasked with monitoring this inbox. One would assume it could fill up rather quickly.
Say around 14 days after an emergency has been issued. LL