As more information is being communicated by FMCSA about its upcoming CDL Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, it appears that it could affect more CDL holders than expected by some. Every professional driver with a CDL who applies for a driving job in January 2020 and beyond, will need to be registered in FMCSA’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. FMCSA’s Clearinghouse is scheduled to be implemented later this year, and it will require every driver who applies for a CDL driving job to:

1. Register with the Clearinghouse
2. Log on to the Clearinghouse to provide an electronic “consent” to a prospective employer to search the Clearinghouse for the full details of any prior drug or alcohol program violations

As FMCSA states on its new Clearinghouse website, “this is the only valid method for responding to this type of employer consent request, and failure to provide timely consent may result in a driver being prohibited from performing safety-sensitive functions for that employer.” (See the Frequently Asked Questions portion of the new Clearinghouse website at https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/ ) FMCSA expects to have the Clearinghouse finished by Fall 2019, and is communicating to the industry that the registration process is likely to begin in October 2019. STC will update “60 Seconds” readers as the implementation process moves forward.