Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Enacted by FMCSA
Required under MAP-21, last year’s highway reauthorization bill, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced on February 12 a proposed rule to establish a drug and alcohol clearinghouse for all national commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders.
The Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, as it’s known, would help improve roadway safety by requiring carriers to report to FMCSA failed drug tests and test refusals, along with requiring them to query the clearinghouse when making new hires and once annually for current drivers.
”We are leveraging technology to create a one-stop verification point to help companies hire drug and alcohol-free drivers,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “This proposal moves us further down the road toward improving safety for truck and bus companies, commercial drivers and the motoring public everywhere.”
Carriers must randomly test 10 percent of their CDL drivers for alcohol and 50 percent of their CDL drivers for drugs each year in addition to testing new hires, drivers involved in significant crashes and whenever a supervisor suspects a driver of using drugs or alcohol while at work.
