Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration January 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA proposes to remove medical examiners (ME) from its National Registry who have failed to access their National Registry account using login.gov and have failed to update the profile information in their National Registry account as required. Since June 2018, by using the email, physical address, and telephone number these MEs provided to the Agency in their National Registry account, FMCSA has attempted to notify them of the requirement to access their account using login.gov. There are approximately 15,727 MEs who have not accessed their National Registry account using login.gov and as a result, are not able to fulfill regulatory requirements such as reporting results of physical qualification examinations performed on commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers, receiving FMCSA communications, and completing required training. MEs who are removed from the National Registry will no longer be certified to perform physical qualification examinations of CMV drivers. To avoid being removed from the National Registry, MEs to whom this notice applies must complete the corrective actions set forth below. A list of MEs subject to this notice is provided in the docket for this proceeding.

FMCSA announces the availability of the Medical Examiner's Handbook (MEH), which includes updates to the Medical Advisory Criteria published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The MEH provides information about regulatory requirements and guidance to medical examiners (ME) listed on FMCSA's National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (National Registry) who perform physical qualification examinations of interstate commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The January 2024 edition of the MEH replaces all previous handbook editions.

FMCSA announces its decision to provisionally renew the exemption currently held by WestRock from the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations that prohibit drivers from operating property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) after 14 hours on duty and require 10 hours off duty before resuming driving. FMCSA renews this limited exemption for WestRock's shipping department employees and occasional substitute commercial driver's license (CDL) holders who transport paper mill products short distances on a public road between its shipping and receiving locations. The exemption is restricted to a specific route, measuring less than 300 feet in one direction, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This exemption will allow these individuals to occasionally work up to 16 consecutive hours and be allowed to return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The Agency previously determined that the CMV operations of WestRock's drivers under this exemption would likely maintain a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level of safety that would be achieved in the absence of the exemption. The exemption renewal is for 5 years.

FMCSA proposes amendments to its regulations governing the annual registration fees that participating States collect from motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies for the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) Plan and Agreement for the 2025 registration year and subsequent registration years. The fees for the 2025 registration year would be increased above the fees for the 2024 registration year by an average of 25.0 percent overall, with varying increases between $9 and $9,000 per entity, depending on the applicable fee bracket. The proposal is based upon a recommendation from the UCR Plan.

In a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2023, FMCSA amended its regulations by making technical corrections throughout the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). The final rule had an incorrect paragraph number in the instruction for an amendment and, in an amendment replacing a term, erroneously failed to replace the possessive form of the term. The Agency corrects these errors.

FMCSA announces its decision to renew exemptions for three individuals from the requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) that interstate commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers have ``no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of epilepsy or any other condition which is likely to cause loss of consciousness or any loss of ability to control a CMV.'' The exemptions enable these individuals who have had one or more seizures and are taking anti-seizure medication to continue to operate CMVs in interstate commerce.

FMCSA announces its decision to exempt 10 individuals from the hearing requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in interstate commerce. The exemptions enable these hard of hearing and deaf individuals to operate CMVs in interstate commerce.