FMCSA Seeks Comment on Reviving California and Washington Meal and Rest Break Rules

In December 2023, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) asked for public comment on petitions to undo its earlier decisions blocking California's and Washington's meal and rest break rules for interstate truck and bus drivers. A notice published on December 26, 2023 set a comment deadline of February 26, 2024.

The earlier preemption decisions

FMCSA had made three decisions finding the states' meal and rest break (MRB) rules preempted for drivers subject to the federal hours of service rules:

• December 21, 2018: California's rules, as applied to property-carrying drivers, on petitions from the American Trucking Associations and the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association.
• January 13, 2020: California's rules, as applied to passenger-carrying drivers, on a petition from the American Bus Association.
• November 2020: Washington's rules, as applied to property-carrying drivers, on a petition from the Washington Trucking Associations.

In each case, FMCSA found the state rules were laws on commercial motor vehicle safety, were more stringent than the federal rules, and met each of the criteria for preemption: no safety benefit, incompatibility with federal rules, and an unreasonable burden on interstate commerce.

Those decisions had been challenged in court. The notice said the Ninth Circuit denied petitions for review of the first decision in January 2021, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case in October 2021. California's challenge to the second decision had been held in abeyance, and Washington voluntarily dismissed its challenge to the third in August 2022.

What the state rules required

The notice summarized the state rules at issue. In California, employers generally had to give non-exempt employees a 30-minute meal break after more than five hours of work, a second one for shifts of ten hours or more, and a 10-minute rest period for every four hours worked. In Washington, employees had to get a meal period of at least 30 minutes between the second and fifth hours of a shift, and a 10-minute rest period for each four hours of working time, with no more than three consecutive hours worked without a rest period.

The waiver petitions

Federal law lets any person, including a state, petition FMCSA to waive a preemption decision. FMCSA must grant a waiver as quickly as possible if the petitioner shows that it is consistent with the public interest and the safe operation of commercial motor vehicles.

Petitions came from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; the Truck Safety Coalition, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers; and William B. Trescott. They asked FMCSA to waive all three decisions. The State of California petitioned for a waiver of the two decisions on its rules. FMCSA also noted a submission from several Teamsters locals asking it to reverse the decisions, and a comment from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

Questions for commenters

FMCSA said a waiver was a legal determination reserved to the agency, but it invited comments on the petitions and asked commenters to address four issues:

• how enforcing state MRB laws for intrastate drivers had affected driver health and safety;
• whether enforcing them for interstate drivers would worsen truck parking shortages and push more trucks to park on the roadside;
• whether enforcement would dissuade carriers from operating in those states;
• whether it would weaken the resiliency of the national supply chain.

The notice did not decide the petitions. It opened the question for comment, with the earlier preemption decisions still standing.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of December 2023. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.