Two hours-of-service stories landed in the same week — one about drivers hauling relief into flooded Texas counties right now, and one about how flexible the 14-hour rule should be in the first place.
Emergency relief keeps rolling in Texas
FMCSA has extended its emergency declaration covering the Texas flash-flooding response. The relief, which took effect at 12:00 a.m. ET on July 29, now runs until the end of the emergency or August 11 — whichever comes first. It traces back to Gov. Greg Abbott's mid-July emergency declaration that initially covered 59 counties.
Under 49 CFR 390.23, qualifying interstate drivers providing direct assistance are temporarily relieved from Parts 390–399 of the safety regs — including hours of service. That covers emergency fuel for first responders and generators, water hauling from approved sources, wastewater removal, and other movements directly supporting the active response.
Direct assistance only
The waiver ends the moment your load stops being emergency response. Routine commercial deliveries don't qualify — and neither does tossing a token amount of relief cargo on a mixed load to claim the exemption. Long-term rebuild work after the immediate threat has passed is also out.
Still fully in force
CDL and licensing requirements
Drug-and-alcohol testing
Hazmat regulations
Size-and-weight limits
Registration and tax requirements
Five drivers, ten days, one big ask
Meanwhile, in the July 30 Federal Register, FMCSA is taking comments on an exemption request from Precision Fireworks LLC — a display company whose CDL, hazmat-endorsed drivers move Division 1.1G, 1.3G and 1.4G fireworks for Independence Day shows. Precision wants its roughly five drivers to exclude off-duty and sleeper-berth time of any length from the 14-hour calculation each June 28 through July 8, for the next five years.
The company argues it can't find enough qualified seasonal drivers to work inside a rigid 14-hour window, and that denial would mean cancelled shows in Texas, New Mexico and Missouri — or explosives-laden trucks parked unsecured in public areas. Its safety case: runs typically stay within 150 miles, drivers rest at the show site before the display, most transit happens in low-traffic early mornings, and the company reports zero recordable crashes over ten years of holiday-season operations.
Why it matters beyond fireworks
The request effectively asks for an unlimited pause button on the 14-hour clock — the same flexibility many drivers have wanted for years through split-duty proposals. However FMCSA rules here, it becomes a data point in the bigger fight over who controls the workday: the clock or the driver.
It's an application, not a decision — comments on docket FMCSA-2026-1520 are open at regulations.gov through August 31, 2026. Drivers still couldn't exceed 14 total on-duty hours, the 11-hour driving limit, or the 60/70-hour weekly caps.
Run compliant, stay loaded
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