The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will soon seek to increase the availability of driver violation information in its Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse to keep unsafe drivers off the road.
According to the agency, the Clearinghouse is a “secure online database that gives employers, the FMCSA, state driver licensing agencies, and state law enforcement personnel real-time information about commercial driver’s license and commercial learner’s permit holders’ drug and alcohol program violations.”
Reported to the Clearinghouse are any positive drug and alcohol test results, test refusals, an employer’s “actual knowledge” of a drug or alcohol violation and return-to-duty information.
Now, the agency is looking to expand access to that information to keep unsafe drivers off the road. According to the recently released 2026 regulatory agenda, the FMCSA is expected to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to modify its drug and alcohol use and testing rules sometime in November.
At this time, it’s unclear exactly what the agency intends to modify, or if there will be additional reporting requirements for the Clearinghouse. The agency did add that it intends to propose changes that would “improve the efficiency of certain Clearinghouse processes to provide increased flexibility for drivers and employers, and further align Clearinghouse rules with underlying drug and alcohol use and testing regulations to improve compliance with, and enforcement of, these requirements.”
Modifications to the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse aren’t the only potential changes in terms of drug testing that are on the horizon.
According to the 2026 regulatory agenda, the U.S. Department of Transportation is also looking to establish an “administrative removal process” for medical examiners who are noncompliant with certain requirements necessary to maintain their listing on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
Currently, medical examiners can be removed from the National Registry, either voluntarily or involuntarily, due to lapsed credentials, reporting failures or suspicion of improper examinations.
A supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking on the matter is expected to be published in November.
The potential changes are the latest in the agency’s efforts to improve the Clearinghouse for drivers, employers and medical examiners.
In April, the agency announced changes that would require Medical Review Officers, Substance Abuse Professionals, third-party administrators and employers to take additional steps to verify their identities in the Clearinghouse. According to FMCSA, the move will “strengthen fraud prevention, improve record accuracy, and enhance accountability” for the over six million users of the system.
“Safety is non-negotiable at FMCSA, and that means ensuring the systems we rely on are secure, accurate, and trustworthy,” FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said in a statement. “By strengthening identity verification, we are closing gaps that could be exploited by bad actors, protecting the integrity of the data, and reinforcing confidence across the entire commercial driver safety industry.”
For now, the new requirements apply only to Medical Review Officers, Substance Abuse Professionals, third-party administrators and employers. However, FMCSA said that future phases will extend to “most other users”, but noted that CDL holders are already verified through state systems. LL
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