Senate Bill Retains 34 Hour Restart

The U.S. Senate’s Appropriations Committee April 21 passed 30-0 a bill that corrects a legislative mess-up from December that put the 34-hour restart in jeopardy.

The bill makes clear that the 34-hour restart remains available for use by truck operators should a pending study by the Department of Transportation find that pre-July 2013 restart rules are more effective for truckers’ fatigue levels than those that took effect July 1, 2013.

Should that be the case, the bill would also kick in a few changes to hours of service limits. Specifically, it would set a 73-hour cap on the amount of time truckers can spend on duty in any consecutive seven-day period if utilizing a 34-hour restart. According to the bill’s text, “the 7-day measurement period moves forward 1 day at midnight each day.”

Current 60 hours in 7 days and 70 hours in 8 days provisions would remain intact.