Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse Reminder

Compliance Date 1/6/2020

By now, you should be aware that federal regulations require all motor carriers to register with the drug and alcohol clearinghouse by 1/6/2020.  The process requires a computer and only takes a short time if you already have a portal account associated with your USDOT #.  If not, it is recommended to open a portal account before registration in the clearinghouse so that the two accounts can be associated.

After 1/6/2020 all motor carriers must conduct a full query of each new hire as part of the investigative inquiry into the driver.  Motor carriers must conduct at least a limited query of all employees at least once annually.  This means that that function must be performed prior to 1/6/2021 for the first annual query.

As a reminder, owner-operators must meet the requirements of both the motor carrier and driver and must select a C/TPA as part of the registration process.  For most of MMTA’s members, this would be Fleet Screen Ltd.

Finally, as a result of the new clearinghouse regulation, motor carriers must amend their drug and alcohol testing policies to reflect the new requirements of 49 CFR Part 382.601(b)(1-12).  MMTA has amended our model policy template for members use.  This policy may be obtained from our homepage in the services link under drug and alcohol program.

The following is a checklist of the necessary steps to be ready for 1/6/2020:

    1. If not already done, open a portal account for your USDOT #: https://portal.fmcsa.dot.gov/login make sure to select DACH Admin as one of the allowable roles.  Also make sure that portal administrator for motor carrier approves the role change.
    2. Create an account with the Clearinghouse and link the portal account and clearinghouse account: https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/
    3. Issue updated company policy to all drivers (click here for model policy) drivers should sign model policy and receive printed educational material.
    4. Purchase bundled query plan from the clearinghouse that suits your business model. This feature should be active in November.
    5. Consider driver training regarding the clearinghouse to make all aware of the reporting requirements and annual query.

More Information can be found in a previous post found HERE.