Sec. 133.
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None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act or any other Act shall be used to enforce sections 395.3(c) and 395.3(d) of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, and such sections shall have no force or effect from the date of enactment of this Act until the later of September 30, 2015, or upon submission of the final report issued by the Secretary under this section. The restart provisions in effect on June 30, 2013, shall be in effect during this period.
As soon as possible after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall publish a Notice in the Federal Register and on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website announcing that the provisions in the rule referred to in subsection
(a)shall have no force or effect from the date of enactment of this Act through September 30, 2015, and the restart rule in effect on June 30, 2013, shall immediately be in effect. Within 90 days of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall initiate a naturalistic study of the operational, safety, health and fatigue impacts of the restart provisions in sections 395.3(c) and 395.3(d) of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, on commercial motor vehicle drivers. The study required under this subsection shall— compare the work schedules and assess operator fatigue between the following two groups of commercial motor vehicle drivers, each large enough to produce statistically significant results: commercial motor vehicle drivers who operate under such provisions, in effect between July 1, 2013, and the day before the date of enactment of this Act, and commercial motor vehicle drivers who operate under the provisions as in effect on June 30, 2013. compare, at a minimum, the 5-month work schedules and assess safety critical events (crashes, near crashes and crash-relevant conflicts) and operator fatigue between the following two groups of commercial motor vehicle drivers, from a statistically significant sample of drivers comprised of fleets of all sizes, including long-haul, regional and short-haul operations in various sectors of the industry, including flat-bed, refrigerated, tank, and dry-van, to the extent practicable; assess drivers’ safety critical events, fatigue and levels of alertness and driver health outcomes by using both electronic and captured record of duty status, including the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), e-logging data, actigraph watches and cameras or other on-board monitoring systems that record or measure safety critical events and driver alertness; utilize data from electronic logging devices, consistent to the extent practicable, with the anticipated requirements for such devices in section 31137(b) of title 49, United States Code, from motor carriers and drivers of commercial motor vehicles, notwithstanding any limitation on the use of such data under section 31137(e) of title 49, United States Code; and include the development of an initial study plan and final report, each of which shall be subject to an independent peer review panel of individuals with relevant medical and scientific expertise. Prior to the study required under this subsection commencing, the Secretary shall submit a plan outlining the scope and methodology for the study to the Department of Transportation Inspector General within 60 days of enactment of this Act. Within 30 days of receiving the plan, the Office of Inspector General shall review and comment on the plan, including whether it includes— a sufficient number of drivers participating to produce statistically significant results and consistent with subsection (c)(2); an assessment of whether the technologies being used to assess the operational, safety and fatigue components of the study are reliable and will produce consistent and valid results; appropriate performance measures to properly evaluate the study outcomes; and assess the selection of the independent review panel under subsection (c)(5). The Office of Inspector General shall report its findings, conclusions and recommendations to the Secretary and to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations within 30 days of receipt of the plan. The Secretary shall submit a final report on the findings and conclusions of the study and the Department’s recommendations on whether the provisions in effect on July 1, 2013, provide a greater net benefit for the operational, safety, health and fatigue impacts of the restart provisions to the Inspector General within 210 days of receiving the Office of the Inspector General report required in subsection (d)(2). Within 60 days of receipt of the Secretary’s findings and recommendations in subsection (e), the Inspector General shall report to the Secretary and the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on the study’s compliance with the requirements outlined under subsection (c). Upon submission of the Office of the Inspector General report in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit its report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations and make the report publically available on its website. The Secretary of Transportation shall certify in writing in a manner addressing the Inspector General's findings and recommendations in subsection (d)(1) and (e)(1) of this section that the Secretary has met the requirements as described in section
(c)and (d). The study and the Office of the Inspector General reviews shall not be subject to section 3506 or 3507 of title 44, United States Code.