Trucking is a small step closer to an electronic logging mandate.

The Transportation Department sent its proposed Electronic Logging Devices rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget for final vetting before publication.

The schedule calls for OMB to finish its review by early November, and for publication to follow by mid-November. A two-month comment period will follow. The final rule could show up in 2014 or 2015.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which drafted the rule, has spent the past several months surveying drivers and carriers on the role of electronic logs in driver harassment.

Harassment became a key issue in the pending rule when an appeals court, acting on a challenge by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said the agency needed to pay more attention to this concern.

The agency also is acting under orders from Congress, which last year included an ELD mandate in the highway bill and required that the rule take harassment into account.

In addition to addressing harassment, the proposal will set the mandate, establish minimum standards for elog devices and set requirements for supporting documents.