CHP Issues Final Rule Mandating ELD’s
On November 13th, the California Highway Patrol dropped their final rule mandating Electronic-on-Board (ELD) recorders for hours-of-service compliance for California only motor carriers. The effective date of the rule for effected motor carriers is January 1, 2024.
As soon as the final rule was published, the Association began to receive calls from members who were being spammed by ELD providers and being told there were no exemptions or exceptions to the mandate, and they had to install an ELD in their truck(s). To be nice, we’ll say any ELD company saying that to you is lying. We dealt with the same issue when the federal mandate went into effect five years ago.
As we reported in the Summer issue of WTN, many of our members will be unaffected by this mandate. If you operate under California’s short-haul exception (100 air miles/12 hour on-duty period), an ELD is not required.
If you exceed the short-haul limitations, you are required to complete a paper log (record-of-duty status or RODs) for that day. You are allowed to switch to paper RODs, but for no more than 8 days in any 30-day period without needing an ELD.
Other notable exceptions to the mandate are:
- The driver is in a driveaway-towaway operation, as defined in Section 303 of the Vehicle Code, in which the vehicle being driven is part of the shipment being delivered
- The vehicle being driven was manufactured before model year 2000, as reflected in the vehicle identification number (VIN) and as shown on the vehicle’s registration (this is mostly useful to owners of trucks that have a CARB low-use exemption)
If you have any questions related to this mandate, call the office (909-758-5060) and ask to speak to Brenda or Joe.
If you are required to have an ELD, the WSTA is recommending you contact a reliable supplier such as our affiliate Matrack.
California Petitions DOT to Reverse Previous Determination Prohibiting the State from Enforcing its Unique Meal & Rest Break Rule on Interstate Drivers
After years of our members being legally extorted by trial lawyers for actual and alleged non-compliance with California meal & rest break (MRB) rules, in 2018, the WSTA was the first organization to petition the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to pre-empt California from enforcing its MRB rule on truck drivers subjected to hours-of-service rules. We were quickly joined by the Specialized Carrier & Rigging Association with a petition and finally by the American Trucking Association.
The effort was partially successful in that FMCSA ultimately pre-empted California from enforcing its MRB rule, but only on drivers subjected to the hours-of-service rule issued by the federal government. After a Teamsters legal challenge in the Ninth Circuit to the pre-emption determination, the federal court upheld FMCSA’s decision.
Late this past summer, in what can only be called a purely political move by the agency, they issued a Federal Register Notice essentially begging for petitions to reverse its previous decision.
As of the publication date of WTN, the State of California issued the following press release giving FMCSA what it asked for. The WSTA will be engaged on this issue once the feds publish this petition (and very likely others) asking whether the petition(s) should be granted.
PRESS RELEASE Attorney General Bonta Defends California’s Meal and Rest Break Rules for Commercial Drivers
Monday, November 13, 2023
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in partnership with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, today announced the filing of a petition seeking a waiver of federal preemption determinations that prevent California from enforcing its meal and rest break requirements for motor vehicle drivers in California. Federal regulations by the Federal MotorCarrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) generally permit commercial drivers to drive eight hours without a break. In contrast, California law generally requires 30-minute meal breaks during each five hours of work, and 10-minute rest breaks for every four-hour period. In 2018 and 2020 under the Trump Administration, FMCSA ruled that California’s rules to protect the safety of drivers and the general public were preempted by the federal rules and were therefore unenforceable. FMCSA recently initiated a petition process for states to request a waiver from this ruling. If FMCSA grants the waiver, California can resume enforcing its meal and rest break rules on behalf of commercial vehicle drivers.
“Meal and rest breaks are essential for the welfare of our workers, but are especially important for commercial drivers,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Fatigued driving is especially deadly in the trucking and bussing industries and contributes to accidents on California’s roadways. California’s meal and rest break rules protect drivers and promote public safety by providing drivers with adequate time to rest before they become overly fatigued. FMCSA’s Trump-era preemption decisions endanger the health and welfare of California’s workers. All workers deserve a work environment that affords them safety and security.”
In the Petition sent to FMCSA, the Attorney General and the Labor Commissioner highlight that enforcement of California’s meal and rest break rules will have a significant positive impact on health and safety of drivers, have not and will not exacerbate the truck parking shortage in California, and have not and will not weaken the national supply chain or otherwise burden interstate commerce.
CARB Litigation Update – November 2023
Opening Salvo in Legal Filings: WSTA et al v. US EPA
Currently, there are three legal challenges to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations mandating the sale of only zero-emissions trucks and that fleets can only add zero-emissions trucks to their fleet, the WSTA has two of those legal challenges. Below is a brief explanation of each legal case. Read more
UPDATE: California Intrastate ELD Mandate
Members already being misinformed
In mid-July the WSTA responded to the latest modification of the California Highway Patrol’s rulemaking to mandate electronic logging devices (ELD’s) for hours-of-service (HOS) compliance of motor carriers/drivers operating only within the state.
The 15-day notice issued by CHP only dealt with correcting some technical language, not any modifications to their initially proposed rule.
California is mandated under federal law to adopt the mandate requiring the use of ELD’s after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration mandated motor carriers/drivers operating in interstate commerce use ELD’s beginning on December 18, 2017.
Many motor carrier/drivers will not be required to use ELD’s yet could still make occasional trips out of their normal service area if necessary, without needing an ELD by using exceptions in the rule that mirror federal exceptions.
The WSTA tried to get CHP to mimic the federal ELD rule in its entirety but was unsuccessful. California will retain a 12-hour maximum on-duty period and 100 air mile short haul exception for hours-of-service compliance instead of adopting the federal 14-hour/150 air mile exception.
The short haul exception in HOS rules simply allows motor carrier/drivers who are dispatched from and return to the same location every day to record their HOS via timecards/time sheets, etc.
Many of our members operate within 100-air miles of their home terminal so nothing will change for those types of operations. However, some will occasionally go outside the 100-air miles and just as now, even with an ELD mandate you will just be required to record that days HOS on a paper log (not timecard/timesheet).
However, there is a limit to the number days you can operate outside your home terminal area without the ELD mandate kicking in. You will only be allowed to run on paper logs for no more than 8 days in any 30-day period. If you exceed that threshold, you are required to install an ELD.
For those who take work in other areas of the state – away from their normal work reporting station (terminal) and spend time in a different area, many who have used paper logs on a daily basis to record their hours worked when working locally, need to consider changing that practice. That practice can inadvertently get you in trouble as most roadside law enforcement officers will interpret that behavior as you are being required to complete a paper log and as such after 8 days logged want to see an ELD.
It has always been permissible to change your home terminal for the purposes of recording your HOS. For example, if you are headed to an area of the state to work a long-term project or aid in fire recovery (assuming an emergency declaration doesn’t exist exempting you from HOS rules), you would simply use a paper log to record travel time that is more than 100 air miles from your home terminal then re-designate your home terminal as the address of where you are staying (hotel, camp-ground, relatives house) during the duration of the work and allowing you to revert to time-cards/time sheets, etc.
Hopefully this doesn’t sound too confusing. If you have any questions, please call WSTA Director of Governmental Affairs, Joe Rajkovacz at (909) 486-7225.
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