December 4, 2013. Members of the House and Senate introduced the Drug Free Commercial Driver Act of 2013 (S. 1625, H.R. 3403) in late October. The related bills, introduced by Rep. Rick Crawford and Sen. Mark Pryor, would allow motor carriers to utilize hair testing to identify drug use, as an alternative to urine testing. The Department of Transportation currently requires urine testing in driver pre-employment and random drug testing. The bills reflect the growing industry consensus that hair testing is more valuable due to its longer detection period (90 days) than urine testing, which can detect only recent use. Hair testing is largely considered more accurate to pinpoint long-term drug users.
Both bills have been referred to committees in their respective houses. The legislation would allow, but not require, hair testing as an alternative to urine testing. Although hair testing would be suitable for pre-employment and random testing, the industry considers it less appropriate to test under reasonable suspicion or post-accident circumstances. The American Trucking Association, among other industry groups, have spoken in support of the bills.
You can read the bill text here. For more information, contact Goosmann Law by emailing info@goosmannlaw.com or by calling 712.226.4000.