Background
The FMCSA is a federal agency within the Department of Transportation tasked with issuing regulations on commercial motor vehicle safety. Coupled with that power, the FMCSA is authorized to decide whether state laws on the same topic of safety are preempted. In 2018, the FMCSA made a determination that federal law – the FMCSA’s own rest break regulations – preempts the CA MRB Rules as applied to drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles.
Previously, in 2008, the FMCSA declined to preempt the CA MRB Rules as applied in this context, finding that it lacked authority to preempt because the CA MRB Rules applied beyond just the trucking industry and were thus not “on commercial motor vehicle safety.” In 2018, two associations in the industry requested that the FMCSA revisit its 2008 decision. The FMCSA sought public comment and then decided that the CA MRB Rules were in fact preempted. California’s Labor Commissioner, certain labor organizations (including the Teamsters union), and other named individuals (together, the “Petitioners”) petitioned the 9th Circuit for review of the FMCSA’s preemption determination.