Welcome to 2026! Here is What to Expect From the Feds

English-language proficiency, non-domiciled truck driver licensing, enforcement of cabotage rules, thorough commercial driver’s license (CDL) training… actions in all of these areas made trucking headlines in the first year of the Trump Administration. Ironically, despite the news coverage, most of this news was not new the current Administration is directly (and often dramatically) enforcing laws that have been on the books for years.

What to expect in 2026? More of the same:

• The feds will continue vetting “CDL mills” to underscore the need for proper CDL training.
• The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will continue to review, and when necessary, revoke ELDs (electronic logging devices) and is expected to publish a formal verification standard that ELD manufacturers must meet.
• Where courts intervene, as with the federal emergency rulemaking on non-domiciled drivers, expect a more thorough and thoughtful federal response but no change of course.

Here are other federal actions we can expect:

• Transparency and accuracy will be the goals as:
  • FMCSA fully launches its new website, complete with fraud prevention protocols;
  • Continues to update the DataQs system that allows motor carriers and drivers to challenge erroneous citations; and
  • Finalizes the broker transparency rule that will require full, itemized disclosure of brokered cargo transactions.
• Truck drivers may no longer need to carry paper medical exam cards sometime after April 10. That’s the current expiration of the waiver FMCSA granted for states to come into compliance with the electronic transmission of medical exam records. Good news for truckers, but also for highway patrol, who will gain online access to verify a driver’s medical condition.
• FMCSA will proceed with pilot programs examining hours of service (HOS) flexibility. Results will come later but expect lots of trucker chatter.
• A federal rulemaking will propose moving marijuana from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III (see accompanying article), with implications for the continued marijuana drug-testing of truck drivers.
• The Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will likely begin unraveling the definitions of “employee” and “independent contractor” established by the prior administration, as well as the NLRB “joint employer rule.”

Welcome to 2026!