HOURS Act

Honest Operators Undertake Road Safety Act or the HOURS Act

This bill amends the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 with respect to commercial motor vehicle safety regulations involving the transportation of agricultural commodities and farm supplies.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) shall issue or revise regulations to ensure that a driver is exempt from requirements with respect to a driver's record of duty status and supporting documents, if (1) the driver meets certain requirements, including that he or she operates within a 150 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location and, if driving a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle, returns to the work reporting location and is released from work within 14 consecutive hours; and (2) the motor carrier that employs the driver maintains and retains for a period of six months accurate and true records showing certain information, including the time the driver reports for duty each day and the total number of hours the driver is on duty each day.

DOT shall issue or revise regulations to ensure that a driver or motor carrier subject to the use of an electronic logging device, hall only be required, for purposes of federal hours of service requirements, to obtain and retain supporting documentation regarding the start and end times of each applicable daily on-duty period.

The public participation requirements shall not apply to a rulemaking regarding hours of service requirements as they relate to sleeper berths for property-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers.