FMCSA Extends COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Through May 31, 2021
In February 2021, FMCSA kept its hours-of-service and other relief for qualifying COVID-19 loads in place for three more months, while signalling it wanted to wind the exemptions down.
In February 2021, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) extended its nationwide COVID-19 emergency declaration for another three months. The extension, dated February 12, 2021, took effect at 12:00 a.m. Eastern on February 17 and ran until 11:59 p.m. Eastern on May 31, 2021, unless the national emergency was revoked sooner.
Background
FMCSA first issued Emergency Declaration No. 2020-002 after the national emergency declared on March 13, 2020. The agency had since modified it several times, on June 15, 2020, August 15, 2020 and December 1, 2020. The December version had carried the relief through February 28, 2021. FMCSA said it was extending again because the presidential emergency was still in place and some supply chains still needed direct emergency assistance.
What the relief covered
Carriers and drivers giving direct assistance to COVID-19 relief efforts were exempt from Parts 390 through 399 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, with the limits listed below. The relief applied only to these loads:
- livestock and livestock feed;
- medical supplies and equipment for COVID-19 testing, diagnosis and treatment;
- vaccines, their constituent products, and the supplies and kits used to give them;
- supplies for community safety, sanitation and preventing spread, such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap and disinfectants;
- food, paper products and other groceries for emergency restocking of distribution centers or stores.
FMCSA said routine commercial deliveries did not count. Neither did mixed loads with a nominal amount of qualifying cargo added just to claim the exemption.
Rules that still applied
Drivers operating under the declaration still had to follow state traffic laws, including speed limits. They were also still bound by the ban on driving while impaired by fatigue or illness, the texting and hand-held phone bans, and the out-of-service and vehicle-condition rules in Part 396. A driver who told a carrier he or she needed rest had to get at least 10 consecutive hours off before returning to service.
The declaration also did not exempt anyone from drug and alcohol testing, CDL requirements, insurance requirements, hazardous materials rules, or size and weight limits. Carriers had to report any recordable crash under the declaration within 24 hours to their FMCSA division office. Carriers under an out-of-service order could not use it.
Leaving relief work
Direct assistance ended once a driver took a non-relief load or was dispatched elsewhere for ordinary work. A driver could return empty to the terminal or normal reporting location under the exemption. Once total time on relief work, or relief plus normal work, reached 14 hours, a 10-hour break was required before switching to normal operations.
FMCSA added a note that it intended to wind down the declaration and related COVID-19 relief where possible.
Archive: this article describes rules and events as of February 2021. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.