After Noem Push, DOT Reconsiders Trucking Regulations

Pat Powers

After Noem Push, DOT Reconsiders Trucking Regulations

Washington, D.C. – Following a push from Rep. Kristi Noem, South Dakota truckers, and others, the U.S. Department of Transportation today announced it will reconsider the Obama administration’s hours-of-service regulations, which have placed a significant and unnecessary strain on many small truckers.

“No one wants to compromise when it comes to safety, but hours-of-service regulations place unnecessary strain on South Dakota trucking operations,” said Noem. “I’m thrilled to see the Department of Transportation offer up an alternative today. This is no home run, but it’s a step in the right direction. I’m hopeful they will listen to the feedback of South Dakota truckers and make the right decision that provides added flexibility for those responsible for moving our food supply.”

  • The Department of Transportation’s considerations include:
  • Expanding the current 100 air mile “short-haul” exemption from 12 hours on-duty to 14 hours on-duty, which is consistent with rules for long-haul drivers;
  • Extending the current 14-hour on-duty limitation by up to two hours when a driver encounters adverse driving conditions;
  • Revising the current mandatory 30-minute break for drivers after 8 hours of continuous driving; and
  • Reinstating the option for splitting up the required 10 hour off-duty rest break for drivers operating trucks with sleeper compartments.

In December 2017, Noem co-sponsored legislation that would delay the ELD mandate for two years. In February 2018, Noem sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation to request exemptions for small businesses with exemplary safety records.

Individuals looking to participate in the public comment period can submit feedback until September 20. Comments can be filed here.

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22 thoughts on “After Noem Push, DOT Reconsiders Trucking Regulations”

  1. thank you Kristi. We appreciate your hard work and support on this important issue. I know we also have had support from Senator Rounds on this!! Keep pushing on it!!!

  2. Thank you Krisit!! We appreciate your hard work and support on this important issue. Keep up the hard work and keep pushing on it. This is another example of government regulations without commonsense.

  6. Trucking regulations seem to be designed so no human can follow them. Drives truckers crazy. One wonders if its deliberately malicious.

  7. Would love to see any of the correspondence between her office and DOT as proof of this.

  8. I heard from a friend that all of this was done because of the benefit of Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs), which the Congresswoman vigorously opposed… if she trying to play this both ways?

      1. William – you’re wrong again as usual. You’ve been around the Pierre swamp people long enough to know that 1 letter 6 months ago really isn’t “urging” anything.

        She hopped on the bandwagon and took the credit without having to do any work at all.

  9. kinda disappointed Trump didn’t delay ELDs implementation. this really hurts the company I work with. ELDs should be voluntary and their info should need warrants your LEOs to access.

  10. Wow! If this is the level of attention and satisfaction we can expect after a “Noem push” her governorship should be nothing but victory, after victory, after victory.

    I especially love how she labels the ELD mandate part of the Obama admins hours of service regs. While correct, she’s leaving out the part where she voted FOR the mandate in 2010’s MAP-21 highway bill. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the House under Republican control in 2010?

    I understand that a highway bill is extremely long and covers much, much more than just trucking regulations. But she’s had 8 years to address and fix this. And up until the month before the ELD mandate went into effect, all we got from her is silence. In fact, I was told personally by her now Chief of Staff, Andrew Christianson, that the ELD mandate “wasn’t that big of a deal” and “wouldn’t affect my business that much.” Andrew would later tell me that Kristi would not be fighting this “because no one in Washington was really talking about it.”

    To his credit though, he didn’t lie to me. Despite her claims, she certainly has not fought the ELD mandate.

    1. noem took office in january 2011. the democrats had control through december 2010. their outrageous record from 2007 to 2010 is what put noem in office btw.

      1. Thanks for the info. The MAP-21 highway bill was 2012, not 2010. It was still voted for by Kristi, in a Republican controlled House and signed into law by Obama. Which means she still had 6 years to correct the mistake.

        Thanks again for helping me clarify.

        1. the problem is that it’s tied up in DOT administrative law, and congress can’t get their hands on it until DOT makes it law.

          1. I assume by “it” you mean the possible revisions to the hours of service and not the ELD mandate itself. If so, yes, they are in the administrative process now of notice of proposed rulemaking, comment period, etc.

            That doesn’t mean congress couldn’t have acted or still couldn’t act. They could have, and still can, pause the ELD mandate until these issues have been worked out.

            Some have said that the ELD’s were necessary to highlight the flaws in the hours of service. While they have done that, they weren’t necessary. Everyone in the business, from mega carriers to one truck operations, could agree on the flaws in current hours of service. To think that we had to suffer in the meantime to point out these flaws is like Nancy Pelosi saying “we need to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.”

            This headache could have been avoided if our Washington delegation had listened to the industry a little sooner.

  11. There isn’t anything called administrative law- Congres passed the law and DOT is trying to form the regulation. This regulation has been on the books for over 3 years now- they’re just starting to implement it and hold truckers accountable for their House of Service.

    1. as a practical matter, all government agencies write their own rules implementing the framework of new congressional acts. In this rulemaking, they create law, and congress has to find, isolate and remove things done by the agencies that they don’t like. over time Congress has ceded a lot of their oversight authority.

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