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The FMCSA waiver that let drivers use a paper medical certificate as backup expired at midnight October 11, 2026. Carriers now check medical certification on the MVR instead of filing the paper card.

A full Clearinghouse query with the driver's electronic consent has to run before a new driver operates. Current drivers then need a limited query every year, which only reports prohibited or not prohibited.

The return goes to the carrier's base jurisdiction and settles fuel tax for every mile and gallon across July, August, and September — owed even when a truck ran no miles. States check for missing returns and unpaid balances before approving an IFTA renewal, and many will block the renewal outright, so this filing is the gate January's decals have to pass through.

Federal rules require an MVR pulled within 30 days of hire and again at least every 12 months.

Roadside violation can be recorded under a carrier's USDOT number even when no ticket is issued. It names SAFER, the FMCSA Safety Measurement System, and the FMCSA Portal as the three places to check that record.

More than 210,000 CDL holders are currently prohibited from driving, according to Clearinghouse figures. Most of them have not started the return-to-duty process at all, so the bottleneck is an unfinished process rather than a closed door.