President Clinton has signed the $58-billion Transportation Appropriations bill for fiscal-year 2001.
Although the bill does not include funding for proposed revisions to the hours-of-service rule, it does allow the Dept. of Transportation to review its hours-of-service proposal and possibly issue a supplemental rule that may call for further public comment and input.
Implementation of any rule is therefore pushed back to at least October 1, 2001.
The bill provides $55 million for roadside inspections, about $10 million for the development of a database to identify truck drivers who have bad driving records, and $5 million for a large-truck crash study.
The bill includes a provision that will help to create a national impaired driving standard of 0.08 blood-alcohol concentration for non-commercial drivers. The limit remains 0.04 for drivers with CDLs.
