[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14360-14361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATOR REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO SLEEP 
                               DISORDERS

  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 3095) 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.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3095

       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.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia 
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.


                             General Leave

  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous materials on the bill before us.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I am pleased to support H.R. 3095. This bill ensures that any new or 
revised requirements made by the Secretary for the screening, testing, 
or treatment of commercial motor vehicle drivers for obstructive sleep 
apnea is adopted through a rulemaking proceeding.
  H.R. 3095 does not require a rulemaking proceeding to be initiated. 
It only requires that any future changes to screening, testing, or 
treatment requirements for obstructive sleep apnea are made through a 
rulemaking.
  A rulemaking will help the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 
Administration, stakeholders and this Congress understand the costs and 
benefits of the proposed changes and provide stakeholders an 
opportunity to comment.
  H.R. 3095 is the most responsible way to move forward with any 
changes to obstructive sleep apnea screening, testing, or treatment 
requirements.
  This bill has over 59 Democratic and Republican cosponsors and shows 
how effective a bipartisan effort to move practical legislation can be. 
Senator Blunt from Missouri and Senator Warner from Virginia have 
introduced S. 1537, the companion bill to that before us, H.R. 3095.
  This bill has strong bicameral, bipartisan support, and I urge all of 
my colleagues to support H.R. 3095.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. I thank my good friend, the chairman of the subcommittee, 
for his work on this very important bill, and I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3095. This legislation ensures 
that changes planned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 
to better diagnose and treat sleep apnea among commercial truck and bus 
drivers will be done with a formal rulemaking.
  I believe the FMCSA's initiative to address sleep apnea is important, 
and I fully support the Agency's efforts to improve safety. There is 
little question that obstructive sleep apnea, if left untreated, can 
significantly affect a truck or bus driver and his or her on-the-job 
performance.
  When we scheduled markup of this bill in the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, the Agency was considering making 
significant changes to the medical screening of drivers for sleep apnea 
through guidance. The rulemaking process, however, will afford FMCSA 
the opportunity to get input from the public, including drivers and 
companies who will be directly affected by the changes.
  FMCSA has since committed to making changes through a rulemaking. 
Therefore, this legislation has been overtaken by events and seems to 
have already had the desired effect. While I am not sure this bill is 
necessary, I have no objection whatsoever to its content, and I support 
its adoption.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to our 
colleague from the State of Indiana (Mr. Bucshon).
  Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, this legislation is simple, but has the 
potential to save the trucking industry nearly $1 billion.
  If the Department of Transportation--specifically the Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration--decides they want to weigh in on sleep 
apnea, they need to do so by a rulemaking process.
  On April 20, 2012, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice that 
stated FMCSA was going to publish regulatory guidance related to sleep 
apnea. Subsequently, as has been mentioned, they decided to go through 
the rulemaking process. But I still believe this bill is necessary to 
codify that position into law and give the opinion of Congress to FMCSA 
on this issue.
  The problem with issuing guidance instead of traditional rulemaking 
is that guidance is nonbinding and open to interpretation. When 
somebody with a commercial driver's license goes to a physician to get 
a physical, the doctor can follow the guidance and recommend a sleep 
apnea test. Sleep apnea tests cost thousands of dollars,

[[Page 14361]]

and the cost would be shifted to the employer of the driver, or if they 
are an independent driver, to themselves. If the doctor chose to ignore 
the guidance, they would be open to possible legal actions.
  I know from experience that most physicians already practice 
defensive medicine, and any guidance related to this issue would only 
drive up the cost of medicine and hurt an industry that is already 
facing high unemployment.
  The American Trucking Association has estimated that nearly one-third 
of their drivers would meet the arbitrary body mass index threshold. 
That would be an estimated 1 million drivers getting a sleep apnea test 
at an average cost of $2,265. The total cost just to the American 
Trucking Association members would be estimated between $900 million 
and $1.2 billion. The School Bus Association estimates that this 
regulation would cost their drivers $100 million.
  Sleep apnea is a serious disease that can't be diagnosed arbitrarily 
by guidance set in Washington, D.C. The Department needs to go through 
the rulemaking process--which, again, they've already agreed to do. 
This would allow a cost-benefit analysis and input from medical 
providers and all of the stakeholders involved in this issue.
  I'm proud that the bill passed out of the Transportation Committee 
with unanimous support and had over 68 bipartisan cosponsors. The 
American Trucking Associations, the American Bus Association, the 
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the National School 
Transportation Association, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers 
Association, and the United Motorcoach Association have all endorsed 
H.R. 3095.
  I would like to thank the Transportation Committee, especially Dan 
Veoni, for their assistance in support of this legislation.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I can only hope that the agency--which has a 
long docket--in fact gets to this rulemaking. It is always, in the best 
of all possible worlds, best to have rulemaking input from the public, 
of course the formal effect of rules in the courts of the United 
States. And I'm not sure why the agency was going to do guidance 
instead. But this is a very important issue. There have been accidents 
that have been attributed to sleep apnea. But again, without any 
guidance, without any rulemaking, without any understanding of how to 
go about even detecting it and what you're supposed to do to prevent 
it, we are delayed in preventing these accidents. So I very much 
appreciate the work of both sides, and certainly of my good friend, the 
chairman of the subcommittee.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, I would encourage all Members to support the 
bill before us, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3095.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. PETRI. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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