This page has outdated content. We have kept it for informational purposes only. Please refer to our blog for updated content.
Before the government shutdown began, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the so-called sleep apnea bill. The sleep apnea bill requires that actions taken by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pertaining to sleep disorder screening for trucking companies stem from formal rulemaking, not guidance.
The sleep apnea bill doesn’t require the FMCSA to take action with sleep disorder screening. It simply prevents the agency from using guidance to draft informal rules that could expose trucking companies to lawsuits. If the FMCSA seeks to regulate truck drivers’ medical certifications relative to sleep apnea, they will have to pursue the complex process of rulemaking.
The sleep apnea legislation is supported by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the American Trucking Associations. Trucking organizations hope the legislation offers more opportunity for input.
The bill heads to President Obama’s desk where he can sign the bill into law.
Here is the exact text of the sleep apnea bill:
To ensure that any new or revised requirement providing for the screening, testing, or treatment of individuals operating commercial motor vehicles for sleep disorders is adopted pursuant to a rulemaking proceeding, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATOR REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO SLEEP DISORDERS.
(a) IN GENERAL. —The Secretary of Transportation may implement or enforce a requirement providing for the screening, testing, or treatment (including consideration of all possible treatment alternatives) of individuals operating commercial motor vehicles for sleep disorders only if the requirement is adopted pursuant to a rulemaking proceeding.
(b) APPLICABILITY. —Subsection (a) shall not apply to a requirement that was in force before September 1, 2013.
(c) SLEEP DISORDERS DEFINED. —In this section, the term “sleep disorders” includes obstructive sleep apnea.
