The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration handed over its proposal for the new hours of service rules to the Department of Transportation for review late last month.
The FMCSA staff was in charge of working out the nuts and bolts of the rules, and now it's up to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and his staff to iron out how the proposal fits in with DOT policy.

After the DOT reviews it, LaHood's office will send it back to FMCSA if revisions are needed, or the proposal will move on to the Office of Management and Budget. The OMB will consider how the rules will impact the larger picture, such as how much it will cost and how it will affect national economic policy. The DOT has until July 24 to pass it on.

If the OMB clears the proposal, it should be published by November of this year.

In October of last year, the FMCSA agreed to conduct a new rulemaking on hours of service regulations, after Public Citizen and other interest groups filed suit, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to throw out the hours-of-service rule for the third time.

To read about the FMCSA's most recent listening session on the rulemaking, click here.