The American Trucking Associations has filed a lawsuit asking the court to compel the Department of Transportation to issue supporting documents regulation on hours of service.
The ATA filed what is called a "mandamus" action with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which allows a court to compel government officials to perform their legal duties.

In the action, ATA is asking the court to require the agency to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) within 60 days of the court's ruling and a final rule within six months of the NPRM publication date.

"We have a tremendous amount of respect for the Department of Transportation and the work they do, but we had to show the Department just how important the supporting documents issue is to our industry," said Bill Graves, ATA president and CEO. "We hope this lawsuit prompts a greater focus on the issue and that the Department will be willing to work with us to get the regulation out within a reasonable time frame."

Supporting documents are the records of the motor carrier that must be retained for six months to verify drivers' HOS records. In 1994, Congress recognized that the failure of the DOT to properly define for motor carriers what constituted a supporting document was imposing a financial and administrative burden on the trucking industry. Consequently, Congress ordered the agency to circulate a rule that would designate the "number, type, and frequency of [required] supporting document retention" and to ensure that such retention would be at a "reasonable cost" to motor carriers.

The ATA claims the DOT has failed to provide these specifics, leaving the trucking industry with an informal and broad definition of what constitutes a supporting document. There are 34 categories of records and ruling that any document that "could" possibly be used to verify HOS records must be retained as a supporting document.

"In order to comply, trucking companies need to know what the rules are," said Dave Osiecki, ATA senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs. "In the case of supporting documentation for hours-of-service, the requirements have never been established by regulation. ATA has been seeking a fair and cost-effective regulation, consistent with federal law, for more than 15 years."