TRALA Files Petition With FMCSA to Renew its ELD Exemption

• By: Shannon Davison
• On: 06/27/2022 16:05:38
• In: Legislative Bulletins

In September 2018, the FMCSA granted rental companies an exemption from the ELD mandate for trucks rented for a period of 8 days or less. This partial exemption was granted by the FMCSA for 5 years, which is set to expire on October 11, 2022.

In its new petition, TRALA argues that many companies and drivers have been unable to create a workable solution for short-term rentals due to issues involving ELD device interoperability. In its petition, TRALA states that device manufacturers have been unwilling to create the technology allowing for multiple platforms to speak to one another given the relatively small size of the rental industry and therefore an exemption is needed to address break-downs, seasonal rentals, and other rental needs that would put drivers and companies in an impossible situation with respect to their ELD requirements.  Furthermore, TRALA stresses that there will not be any increased safety risk due to the exemption as drivers will still be required to use paper logs to record their hours-of-service. Finally, TRALA pushes back on concerns that drivers will use the short-term exemption to get around the ELD mandate. Specifically, TRALA cites the increased cost of short-term rental trucks compared to a longer-term lease would far exceed the cost of installing an ELD. 

Now that TRALA has submitted its petition, the FMCSA will need to place TRALA's petition in the Federal Register and allow for the public to comment on TRALA's petition. Typically, most petitions receive a 30-day public comment period before the agency can determine how to rule on the petition. Given that timeframe, TRALA is hopeful that the agency will rule on the petition prior to the October 11 deadline for the current rental exemption. 

You may view the petition for an extension of the rental exemption by clicking here. 

If you have any questions regarding the ELD exemption, please feel free to contact Jake Jacoby at jjacoby@trala.org or Andrew Stasiowski at astasiowski@trala.org.  

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