New Bill Would Permanently Exempt Small Carriers from ELD Mandate

On May 23, a bill was filed by Reps. Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Greg Gianforte (R-MT), that would permanently exempt trucking companies with 10 trucks or less from compliance with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) electronic logging device (ELD) mandate.

“The Small Carrier Electronic Logging Device Exemption Act” would allow carriers with 10 or fewer trucks to use paper logs to record duty status, instead of electronic logging devices (ELD). Peterson and Gianforte also introduced a bill to exempt those hauling agricultural commodities from the ELD mandate.

The ELD compliance mandate began December 18, 2017, and the hard enforcement date took effect on April 1, 2018.

A bill was introduced last year by Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) to postpone the ELD mandate for two years for carriers of all sizes, though the bill has seen no action since.

In November, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association petitioned FMCSA to allow small business truckers, those with less than $27 million a year in revenue, as defined by the Small Business Administration and with strong safety records, to continue to run on paper logs for five years beyond the December 2017 compliance deadline. FMCSA has not yet issued a decision on OOIDA’s waiver.

As a reminder to PMCI members, petroleum marketers operating under the 100-air mile radius exemption are not required to use electronic logbooks. To qualify for the 100-air mile exemption drivers must:

• Start and return to the same location within 12 hours of going on duty,
• Drive no more than 11 hours during a shift,
• Take ten consecutive hours off between shifts, and
• Travel no further than a 100-air mile radius from the original starting location at the beginning of the shift.

Short-haul drivers may drive beyond the 100-air mile radius 8 times within each 30-day period without losing the ELD exemption. The driver would however, be required to keep a written HOS log for each day travelled beyond the 100-air mile radius limit.

Model Year Exemption - Drivers of vehicles with engines manufactured before model year 2000 are not required to use an ELD. The model year of the engine must be used to meet this exemption and not the Vehicle Identification Number. The 2000 model year cut off was put into place because most vehicles manufactured prior do not have an engine control module (ECM), which is required for ELDs operation.

Drivers are not required to keep or produce any certificate or proof of qualification for the hours of service or ELD exemptions.