The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(FMCSA) released new reports on the number of commercial vehicle drivers who are subject to automatic license downgrades due to drug and alcohol violations.<\/p>\n The FMCSA recently released the first new monthly reports on Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse violations since the agency\u2019s major Clearinghouse-II<\/a>\u00a0rule\u00a0went into effect on November 18, 2024.<\/p>\n The Clearinghouse-II rule requires that commercial vehicle drivers with violations in the FMCSA\u2019s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse have their Commercial Driver\u2019s License (CDL) or Commercial Learner\u2019s Permit (CLP)\u00a0downgraded by State Driver Licensing Agencies (SDLAs). Drivers with a CDL or CLP downgrade may not operate a commercial vehicle until they complete the return-to-duty (RTD) process.<\/p>\n The new report provides a snapshot of all CDL\/CLP holders\u00a0with a recorded violation in the Clearinghouse as of December 1, 2024.<\/p>\n The latest report shows that 180,048 CDL\/CLP holders were listed in \u201cProhibited\u201d status as of December 1, 2024, and that 137,888 of those drivers had not yet begun the RTD process necessary to restore their commercial driving privileges.<\/p>\n The latest report shows the continuing trend of the number of drivers listed in \u201cProhibited\u201d status slowly but steadily increasing each month. The number of \u201cProhibited\u201d drivers is listed at 180,110 as of November 1, 2024, at 178,839 as of October 1, 2024, and at 177,092 as of September 1, 2024.<\/p>\n The Clearinghouse-II rule was issued by the FMCSA in October 2021 to tighten requirements on SDLAs with regard to the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. This rule builds on and strengthens previous rules that prohibit drivers from operating with a \u201cProhibited\u201d Clearinghouse status.<\/p>\n \u201cAs established in the first Clearinghouse Final Rule, drivers with a \u201cProhibited\u201d Clearinghouse status are prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) on public roads.\u00a0The second Clearinghouse final rule (Clearinghouse-II) further supports this by ensuring that drivers with a \u201cprohibited\u201d Clearinghouse status do not continue to hold a commercial driver\u2019s license (CDL) or commercial learner\u2019s permit (CLP),\u201d the FMCSA states.<\/p>\n The FMCSA\u2019s first Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse Final Rule went into effect January 6, 2020, requiring motor carriers to query an online database containing CDL\/CLP holder drug and alcohol violation information before hiring a driver and once per year for existing drivers.<\/p>\n You can click here to learn more about the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdllife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screen-Shot-2025-01-06-at-4.10.44-PM.png\")
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