The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration wants extend the requirement that truck drivers keep a paper copy of their medical certificate with them when they're on the job.

That requirement was supposed to end in 2012 when a new reporting system is scheduled to be in place, but in a proposed rule published yesterday, the agency said it wants the requirement to stay in place until January 30, 2014.
The extension would include the requirement that trucking companies keep copies of drivers' certificates on file.

The agency is proposing this to make sure that information about a driver's medical qualification is current while it implements the new reporting system. In the new system,
scheduled to take effect in 2012, drivers are supposed to make sure that the state licensing agency gets of copy of the medical certificate, and the states are supposed to make sure that the certificate information gets into the national driver's license database.

But some states have told the agency that they will not be able to meet the 2012 deadline, so the agency wants to be sure that the states have enough time to get the new system in place. The new deadline would not apply to the states, however. The agency wants them to stick to the 2012 schedule.

The proposal was in yesterday's Federal Register. Comments are due by June 29.