OMB Approves FMCSA Prohibition of Coercion Final Rule

The OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced yesterday that it had approved the final rule for DOT’s FMCSA regulation prohibiting coercion of truck drivers to violate federal trucking safety standards. The NPRM for this rule was published in May of 2014 and drew 95 comments, many from active and former truckers.

The Unified Agenda notes that Congress required the publication of new “regulations governing commercial motor vehicle safety [to] ‘ensure ... an operator of a commercial motor vehicle is not coerced by a motor carrier, shipper, receiver, or transportation intermediary to operate a commercial vehicle in violation of a regulation promulgated under 49 U.S.C. section 31136 or chapters 51 or 313 of title 49, U.S.C.’”

This rule will probably be published next week.