FMCSA extends automatic emergency hours-of-service relief from 14 to 30 days
Why this matters: our read
The relief covers only trucks acting in direct assistance to the declared emergency, so fleets hauling ordinary freight in an emergency area are not covered.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has changed how long hours-of-service relief lasts after a regional emergency declaration. In a final rule published Oct. 5, 2026 and effective the same day, FMCSA lengthened the relief that is triggered automatically after a regional declaration of emergency by a governor, a governor’s authorized representative, or FMCSA, from 14 days to 30 days. The agency said the rule responds to petitions for reconsideration of its October 2023 final rule.
The relief exempts only commercial motor vehicles acting in direct assistance in response to the declared emergency, and only from the hours-of-service limits in 49 CFR 395.3 and 395.5. The rule makes one change: in 49 CFR 390.23(b), the period of automatic relief extends from 14 to 30 days.
Petitions for reconsideration under docket FMCSA-2025-0124 must reach the FMCSA Administrator by Nov. 4, 2026. This is a different rule from the 14-hour window pause study and the split sleeper berth study already covered on this site.
Sources
- Published by
- Federal Register (FMCSA)
- Role
- Primary source
- Item
- Clarification to the Applicability of Emergency Exemptions; Response to Petitions for Reconsideration
- Published