On August 22, 2019 (84 FR 44190), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the federal register amending the hours-of-service (HOS) requirements in 49 CFR Part 395 to provide greater flexibility for drivers subject to the HOS rules without adversely affecting safety. This would be accomplished by altering the short-haul exception to the record of duty status (RODS) requirement available to certain commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers, modifying the adverse driving conditions exception, increasing flexibility for the 30-minute break rule by requiring a break after 8 hours of driving time (instead of onduty time) and allowing on-duty/not driving periods as qualifying breaks from driving, modifying the sleeper berth exception to allow a driver to spend a minimum of 7 hours in the berth combined with a minimum 2-hour off-duty period, provided the combined periods total 10 hours (rather than the current 8/2 split), and allowing one offduty break that would pause a truck driver’s 14-hour driving window. Comments on this notice must be received on or before October 7, 2019.

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FMCSA 08-22-2019 NPRM HOS changes