Federal hours-of-service regulations already impose limits on the number of hours a driver may consecutively operate a passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicle before a required break.
The State of California and several of its officials are not entitled to review of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration determination that California’s meal and rest break rules, as applied to drivers of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles, were preempted by the Motor Carrier Safety Act, the Ninth Circuit held. Citing its prior decision in International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 2785 v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 986 F.3d 841 (9th Cir. 2021), the appeals court found that the record supported the FMSCA’s conclusion that California’s MRB rules impose a significant operational burden upon operators of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles, and that that conclusion was sufficient to justify the federal agency’s decision (People of the State of California ex rel. Becerra v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, No. 20-70706 (9th Cir. June 4, 2026)).
The MCSA. The federal Motor Carrier Safety Act (MCSA), according to the court, requires the Secretary of Transportation to “review State laws and regulations on commercial motor vehicle safety” and gives the Secretary express power to preempt State law. 49 U.S.C. § 31141(a). The Secretary’s power to preempt a state law or regulation arises if the Secretary determines that the state law or...
The relator managed to connect alleged upcode overcharging to the submission of bills to the government that would have necessarily contained inflated charges. A qui tam relator who did not plead ...