News & Reports
FMCSA finalizes 12 deregulatory changes
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has finalized a broad array of deregulatory changes affecting vehicle standards, inspection requirements, emergency equipment, licensing rules, and more. Published February 19, 2026, the rule changes have limited...
REAL-ID, Mail-Order CDLs, and America’s CDL Free-for-All
You can buy a Mexican commercial license online for $200. Six states will convert it to an American CDL without verifying your legal presence. And the federal audit just started. Rob Carpenter Somewhere between a Philadelphia apartment and a flea market in...
2025 in Review: Deregulation, Stepped-Up Enforcement, and Safety as a Policy Tool
Scopelitis From a regulatory standpoint, 2025 was not defined by sweeping new trucking rules but instead by how the federal government chose to act: deregulating selectively, enforcing aggressively, and increasingly using safety as justification for broader...
Bill to reform DataQs process reintroduced
Legislation introduced this week in the U.S. House takes another shot at DataQs reform after similar legislation stalled in the previous Congress. Reps. Tracey Mann (R-Kansas) and Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) reintroduced the “Motor Carrier Safety Screening Modernization...
Denuclearization: EFFECTIVE Training
Doug Marcello There is a painful irony embedded in every nuclear verdict involving negligent training. The company trained. They held the sessions. They logged the hours. They filed the paperwork. They checked every box their compliance department put in front of...
EPA nukes the legal basis for emission rules. What does this mean for trucking?
Tyson Fisher It’s official. The Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn the 2009 endangerment finding, dismantling nearly 20 years of vehicle emission regulations. What does this mean for trucking, and where do we go from here? On Thursday, Feb. 12, President...
FMCSA Finalizes Non-Domiciled CDL Rule and will publish it on February 13, 2026. Rule’s Major Requirements Identical to Interim Final Rule. Effective 30 days after publication.
The Final Rule will be officially published in the Federal Register on Friday, February 13, 2026 and will be found at: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-02965/restoring-integrity-to-the-issuance-of-non-domiciled-commercial-drivers-licenses-cdl...
FMCSA Administrator Barrs to make radical changes to driver training, ELDs, med cards
Alex Lockie Derek Barrs, the leader of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, on Thursday announced plans to radically change something at the core of big problem areas for trucking in 2025: Self-certification of service providers. Today, ELD providers,...
FMCSA Renews CMV Marking Rules as Industry Grapples With Violations and Fraud
Federal Register notice quietly reveals a 2.5 million-hour reduction in burden estimates, while the private sector exposes a marking shell game that regulators struggle to contain...
FMCSA Issues 40-State Winter Weather HOS Waiver
FMCSA has issued a Regional Emergency Declaration providing temporary hours-of-service (HOS) relief for certain motor carriers and drivers due to severe winter storms and extreme cold impacting multiple states. This waiver supports urgent winter emergency response...