The next phase of the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse will revoke more than 170,000 commercial driver’s licenses on November 18. Fleets will want to make sure their drivers have no violations before Clearinghouse-II takes effect on Monday.
“Up until now, if a driver had a violation, it was recorded in the Clearinghouse, and the driver was not eligible to drive a CMV,” Rick Schweitzer, legal counsel for the National Private Truck Council, told FleetOwner last month. “This rule, starting November 18, is going to require the states to take action against the drivers’ CDL as well. Not only will the driver be deemed ineligible as far as the Clearinghouse goes but also will not have a commercial driver’s license.”
What will Clearinghouse-II do?
The second phase of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse will make state driver licensing agencies revoke CDL privileges from any commercial drivers in bad standing with the Clearinghouse. This targets drivers who have a “prohibited” status in the Clearinghouse and haven’t completed their return-to-duty process.
Clearinghouse’s September report found that more than 178,000 CDL holders have a prohibited status. Come November 18, those CDL privileges will be in jeopardy. Once a prohibited driver completes their return-to-duty process, the state agency will restore the driver’s CDL privileges.
See also: What Clearinghouse-II will bring in November
How will this affect fleets?
Regulations already bar prohibited drivers from operating commercial vehicles. Once a driver fails or refuses a drug test for Clearinghouse, their prohibited status enters the Clearinghouse database.
With Clearinghouse-II, state agencies will automatically receive this information and will take action to remove the driver’s CDL privileges. The change will make it easier for law enforcement to identify those prohibited drivers.
Fleets that do not comply with Clearinghouse’s prohibited status are more likely to face consequences. Clearinghouse violators can incur fines as high as $5,833.
