Cirillo Modifies Intrastate Hours Rule

January 26, 2000 10:55 AM, EST

Intrastate truckers must obey the federal hours-of-service regulations for seven days before and seven days after they cross a state line, according to a ruling by Julie A. Cirillo, acting deputy director of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The decision chiefly affects drivers for carrier groups such as agricultural haulers. Many states give these carriers more time on the road for in-state travel than are permitted under federal law. A question of which rule to follow arises when a primarily intrastate carrier crosses a state line.

Many carriers had assumed that federal hours laws applied only to interstate loads and state laws applied to intrastate commerce. That assumption was cast into doubt in July when Cirillo announced plans to enforce an 18-year-old memo that had been largely ignored. The memo said carriers fall under federal oversight for four months after an interstate load, but industry outcry induced Cirillo to delay enforcement ("Cirillo Rethinks Policy On Intrastate Hours," 11-1, p. 5).

“We agreed to stand down on enforcing it in farm states,” said Cirillo on Jan. 13 at a meeting of the California Trucking Association’s safety policy committee. “I don’t know if you know, but we have 50 farm states in the U.S.”

For the full story, see the Jan. 24 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.