In this Golden Age of partisan congressional gridlock, the sudden, unanimous passage of a recent trucking bill stunned many Capitol Hill observers – and now many in trucking are hoping to tap that lightning in a bottle once again. So let’s compare September’s successful sleep apnea campaign to the ongoing push to roll back hours-of-service changes.
The central players in both are trucking, the industry regulator and Congress. But the issues would seem to be substantially different.
The hours-of-service rule, after all, has been hotly debated and litigated for a decade now, and the recent changes are the first to pass judicial review right out of the box. Essentially, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said the rulemaking was strictly by the book, a process that was open, fair and thorough – and a federal appeals court agreed.
The sleep apnea legislation simply demands that FMCSA apply the same rigor to the development of any such policies, rather than enacting them via an administrative shortcut, such as issuing “guidance.”
And FMCSA – once the bill got some attention, opting to switch course rather than fight – subsequently issued a simple statement promising to play by formal federal procedures on the matter. Mission accomplished.
Still, Congress pressed forward. Introduced Sept. 12, HR 3095 passed both houses without a dissenting vote, was signed by the president and became law Oct. 15 — a mere 33-day process. The question, in terms of the pending HOS legislation, is how much did FMCSA’s announcement impact the politics? Essentially, the overwhelming action by Congress didn’t do much, except make sure FMCSA keeps its promise.
