The California Senate Wednesday approved a bill that would require on-board recording devices in commercial vehicles.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jackie Speier, would require drivers of trucks with a gross weight over 26,000 pounds to document their hours of service using an automatic onboard recording device. It would go into effect Jan. 1, 2004. Drivers within a 100-air-mile radius would be exempt.
SB1048 also contains other provisions affecting truckers. It would suspend a driver's commercial license for one year if the driver falsifies driving history related to drug and alcohol testing. However, a section of the bill that would have required drug test failures to be sent to a central database for employment screening purposes has been dropped, according to the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Assn. Under the bill, consortiums, medical review officers and substance abuse professionals are required to register with the Department of Motor Vehicles in order to provide drug and alcohol testing.
Another provision that has been dropped was one that would have required that only a licensed physician or surgeon do medical reviews. The goal was to stop chiropractors and other non-physician medical professionals from doing DOT physicals.
The bill, which passed by a wide margin, now goes to the state Assembly for consideration. DOT physicals and drug and alcohol testing, but not black boxes, were addressed in a bill introduced in the Assembly in late January. (See "Capitol Crash Prompts California Legislation.")
Both bills were prompted in part by a truck driver who rammed his truck into the state Capitol building in January in a suicide run.