[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3943 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3943

  To postpone the enforcement of new rules governing rest periods for 
       truck drivers using sleeper berths until January 1, 2006.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2005

Mr. Young of Alaska (for himself, Mr. Petri, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Sessions, 
 Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Matheson, Mr. Buyer, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Simpson, Mr. 
    Sodrel, Mr. McCaul of Texas, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. 
Marchant, and Mr. Bishop of Utah) introduced the following bill; which 
   was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To postpone the enforcement of new rules governing rest periods for 
       truck drivers using sleeper berths until January 1, 2006.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On August 25, 2005, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
        Administration published a new rule governing rest periods for 
        truck drivers using sleeper berths.
            (2) The rule imposes significant new restrictions on 
        sleeper berth operations, necessitating the retraining of truck 
        drivers and the adjustment of shipment pick-up and delivery 
        schedules.
            (3) The trucking industry will not be able to retrain all 
        drivers and adjust shipping schedules until the end of calendar 
        year 2005. However, the rule is scheduled to become effective 
        and fully enforceable by State officials on October 1, 2005.
            (4) The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration cannot 
        establish an enforcement date for the rule that is later than 
        the effective date because Federal legislation passed in 2004 
        requires that the new rule be made effective no later than 
        October 1, 2005.
            (5) It would be unwise and irresponsible to subject truck 
        drivers and motor carriers to fines, citations, and out-of-
        service violations because they have not been given adequate 
        time to understand and comply with the new sleeper berth rule.
            (6) Although the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
        Administration has issued ``soft enforcement'' guidance, State 
        enforcement officials are not bound by this guidance and 
        beginning October 1, 2005, will still have the authority to 
        fully enforce the new rule.
            (7) Congress should allow the rule to become effective on 
        October 1, 2005, but postpone the enforcement date to January 
        1, 2006, to provide a reasonable amount of time to achieve 
        compliance with the new sleeper berth rule.

SEC. 2. ENFORCEMENT DATE FOR NEW HOURS OF SERVICE RULE.

    The provisions of section 395.1(g)(1) of title 49, Code of Federal 
Regulations, contained in the final rule published by the Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration on August 25, 2005 (70 Fed. Reg. 50071-
50072; relating to property-carrying commercial motor vehicles equipped 
with sleeper berths) shall become enforceable on January 1, 2006, and 
until such date the provisions of section 395.1(g)(1) of that title, as 
in effect as of January 4, 2004, and any compatible State law, shall 
remain in effect and enforceable.
                                 <all>