On the minds of most truckers since the Oct. 1 federal government shutdown began is, how has the shutdown affected DOT compliance?
The short answer is, it hasn’t, and won’t, at least for the foreseeable future.
While the Department of Transportation (DOT) has furloughed 18,481 of its 55,468 employees, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (which develops and enforces the DOT regulations that govern motor carrier safety) is funded by the Highway Trust Fund and multi-year appropriations bills, meaning it does not rely on Congress’ annual appropriations for funding.
That means that all 1,102 employees of the FMCSA will not be furloughed, and as such, all aspects of DOT Compliance including fuel tax reporting, log book auditing, driver qualification files and more will continue unabated. To ensure your company is fully DOT compliant, contact Office Tenders for full DOT Compliance Services.
To recap the current government situation, after the House and Senate failed to pass a bill funding the government by the October 1 appropriations deadline, the federal government went into a partial shutdown. While essential services such as law enforcement, courts, transportation and others will continue, “non-essential” services such as national parks, museums and monuments, application services for small business loan, medicare and social security benefits, and IRS auditing have suspended services. In all, about 800,000 federal workers have received furlough notice.
As mentioned above, the DOT furloughed 18.481 of its 55,468 employees. The vast majority (15,514) are “non-essential” workers in the Federal Aviation Administration, although workers will also be furloughed in:
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (333)
- Federal Transit Administration (501)
- Federal Railroad Administration (467)
- Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (274)
- Maritime Administration (451)
- Surface Transportation Board (140)
- Office of the Secretary (382)
- Inspector General (394)
However, both the FMCSA and the Federal Highway Administration, which oversees the construction, maintenance and preservation of our nation’s highways, bridges and tunnels, are currently unaffected by the shutdown. And unless the government enters a prolonged shutdown, which most observers consider very unlikely, both agencies should have enough funding to continue operating. as usual.
According to the DOT 2014 Plan for the Appropriation Lapse, “All operations continue as normal during a lapse in annual appropriations” and no activities will be suspended. Regarding operation funding, the “FMCSA has sufficient balances of liquidating cash to operate for a limited period during a lapse of annual appropriations. Once available liquidating cash is exhausted to support continuing operations, an agency shutdown may need to be implemented. For a brief funding lapse, this is not anticipated.”
So unless one or both political parties continue to dig in their heels for an extended period of time, the FMCSA will continue to enforce DOT compliance rules. Stay tuned!
