Historical notice — August 2020. This declaration is not current operating authority. This article records FMCSA Regional Emergency Declaration No. 2020-004 for Hurricanes/Tropical Storms Laura and Marco. The original declaration stated that its relief ended with the emergency or by September 23, 2020, whichever came first. For any current response, check FMCSA’s current emergency-declarations page and read the specific declaration, dates, geography, covered work, and exceptions before relying on relief.
The 2020 declaration covered motor carriers and drivers providing direct assistance to relief efforts in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It provided temporary relief from Parts 390–399 only to the extent stated in that declaration. It did not waive drug-and-alcohol testing under Part 382, CDL requirements under Part 383, insurance under Part 387, hazardous-material rules, or applicable size-and-weight rules. Carriers and drivers already subject to an out-of-service order were not eligible until that order was rescinded.
The relief ended for a driver or vehicle when direct assistance ended or the carrier dispatched them to unrelated commercial work. The declaration allowed an empty return to the terminal or normal work-reporting location, and it included a 10-hour-break condition before normal operations in the circumstances described there. It did not create a general exemption for routine passenger service or permission to operate an unsafe vehicle.
Read the original 2020 FMCSA declaration for the historical record. If you are responding to an emergency now, use the current declaration and coordinate with the relevant authorities; this archived summary is not a substitute for those instructions.
