On June 13, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Department of Transportation Fiscal Year 2001 Budget Appropriations Bill (S-2720), which (if enacted) would force DOT to stop its reform of the hours of service regulations. An amendment in the bill would prohibit DOT from spending any funds on hours of service reform in FY 01 (begins October 1, 2000). The next step is for the bill to be considered by the full Senate. If approved there, the bill would then go to conference in the House because the House version doesn't include such a provision. If the Congress approves the bill, the President would have to sign it. At present, the Administration opposes such a move.

The DOT issued a press release June 9 indicating it plans to extend the comment period for the hours of service Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) until October 30, 2000. This extension has not yet made its way into the Federal Register; therefore, it's not yet official. We expect that to occur any day.

The House Subcommittee on Ground Transportation in the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has scheduled a hearing on hours of service for June 22. The Subcommittee has invited CVSA to testify and Executive Director Steve Campbell will speak on CVSA's behalf.

CVSA's Driver and Passenger Committees will meet jointly June 28 in Vernon, CT to discuss the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The meeting results will provide input to help formulate CVSA's comments on the proposed rulemaking.

To date, we have received only a few responses to the CVSA Member Survey on hours of service. If you have not yet completed the survey, please do so as soon as possible. Your input is needed to help shape the comments we will submit to DOT. Click on www.cvsa.org to download and complete the survey.