On January 23, DOT published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend its drug-testing program regulation, despite an order from President Trump barring federal agencies from publishing regulations in the Federal Register.
Trump’s order prohibits regulations from being published unless a Trump-picked agency chief signs off. It also directed agencies to immediately withdraw any submitted regulations before they can be published.
Trump’s order allows the Office of Management and Budget to make exceptions “for emergency situations or other urgent circumstances relating to health, safety, financial, or national security matters, or otherwise.” But it was not immediately clear whether DOT was given such an exemption, whether the department was able to legally sidestep the order in some other way or whether DOT officials decided to disobey the edict.
With this proposed rule, the department is trying to add four opioids — hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone — to its drug-testing panel. It would also add methylenedioxyamphetamine as a substance looked for during initial testing and remove methylenedioxyethylamphetamine from its requirements for confirmation tests.
The rule would clarify certain drug-testing requirements, remove “outdated” information and do away with certain requirements for submitting blind specimens.
The revisions are aimed at aligning DOT’s mandates with what the Department of Health and Human Services has advised for urine testing.
