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FMCSA Denies Paper-Log Exemption Sought by Federation of Professional Truckers

The notice, publishing Sept. 30, says the ELD mandate written into MAP-21 leaves no room for a blanket exemption and the group never showed paper logs would be as safe.

Dale Prax | October 2, 2026
FMCSA Denies Paper-Log Exemption Sought by Federation of Professional Truckers
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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied the Federation of Professional Truckers' request for an exemption that would have let any driver who wanted to keep paper records of duty status instead of using an electronic logging device, according to a notice of final disposition scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Sept. 30.

The group's application, published for comment on Feb. 9, 2026, asked for the option to record hours manually. Under 49 CFR 395.8, drivers required to keep records of duty status must use an ELD, with an exception for drivers who need records on no more than eight days in any 30-day period.

FMCSA received 901 comments, 890 of them unique, and said most came from individuals who supported the exemption. Supporters argued paper logs would reduce driver stress and cost and give drivers more control over when they stop, and many raised the shortage of truck parking. "It should be a carrier's choice as to which type of logs they use," commenter George Kincaid wrote, according to the notice.

Opponents included the Truck Safety Coalition, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers, who filed jointly and said the application gave no information on how many carriers, drivers or miles it would cover. American Trucking Associations said ELDs "require no changes of hours-of-service regulations" and that route planning is the responsibility of fleets and drivers regardless of the logging method. The Institute for Safer Trucking and Road Safe America called ELDs "a data-driven, effective tool for reducing fatigue-related crashes." The Buchanan Law Firm cited FMCSA's own May 2023 report to Congress, which found inspections with at least one hours-of-service violation fell from 274,441 in 2018 to 191,797 in 2020 after the ELD requirement took effect.

FMCSA gave two reasons for the denial. First, Section 32301(b) of the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act, part of MAP-21, directed the Secretary to require ELDs for drivers who must keep records of duty status. "The Agency is therefore bound by this Congressional mandate and cannot grant a blanket exemption for any driver or carrier that wishes to be exempt," the notice says. Second, the application did not show the exemption would achieve an equivalent level of safety. The federation proposed educating its members on paper logs, having participating carriers run random internal audits, and excluding violators from the program, but asked that the exemption apply to all drivers who wanted it, not only members. "FOPT does not explain how its proposed safety countermeasures would apply to an unknown population of drivers," the notice says.

The denial is signed by Administrator Derek D. Barrs.

What it means

There is no administrative path back to paper logs. FMCSA has now said that the ELD requirement is a statutory mandate it cannot waive wholesale, so the only routes to change are legislation or a narrowly drawn exemption with a defined population and verifiable safety controls. Drivers frustrated by the devices are better served pressing on hours-of-service flexibility than on the logging method. The eight-days-in-30 exception for occasional record-keepers is unchanged.

What's next

The notice publishes Sept. 30 and closes the docket. The federation could file a narrower application limited to its members with the audit and exclusion mechanisms the agency said were missing. Any broader change would have to come from Congress.

Sources

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