Independent · Weekly · Primary-sourced
A weekly briefing for carriers with 1–20 trucks and owner-operators: every FMCSA rule change, enforcement shift, ELD revocation and filing deadline that moved — read from the primary source, in plain English, with the date attached.
Federal coverage nationwide, plus California depth — the state whose rules catch out-of-state carriers. If you are your own compliance department, this is written for you.
FMCSA registration, Clearinghouse duties, hours of service, driver training, medical certification and insurance minimums — the baseline, and every change to it.
What changed at roadside, not just on paper: English-proficiency out-of-service orders, the training-provider purge, state issuance audits.
FMCSA removed 93 device listings in 2025–26 — each one starts a 60-day replacement clock for every carrier running it. We maintain the full list.
UCR, IFTA quarters, Form 2290, your MCS-150 biennial, per-driver Clearinghouse queries — the recurring dates, in one place.
Clean Truck Check testing (including out-of-state trucks), the ACF repeal, ACT's status, Truck and Bus, and the five-minute idling rule.
ELD rule revisions, broker transparency, the CSA scoring rework — tracked from the agenda stage so nothing arrives unannounced.
A living document of the current rules, re-checked against the Federal Register, FMCSA, CVSA and CARB. Every entry carries its citation, the effective date — and a last-checked date, so you can see exactly how fresh each rule is. The change log is append-only: nothing is quietly rewritten.
One email a week with what actually changed: what it is, when it bites, and what to do about it. Quiet weeks get fewer items — we don't pad. If a claim can't be verified from an opened primary source, it doesn't run.
The Trucking Ledger is independent early warning — not legal or compliance advice. We read the sources so you know what to check, and when.
FederalRegistration open now
The final rule (Sep 1, 2026) sets 2027 Unified Carrier Registration fees: a 0–2-vehicle carrier pays $55, up from $46. The filing window runs Oct 1 – Dec 31, 2026, with enforcement from Jan 1 and no grace period.
Tracker entry CE-07 · Read it in the Tracker
FederalOct 12, 2026
From Oct 12, 2026 the electronic CDLIS medical record is the sole proof of certification in 49 states and DC (Alaska is exempt to Oct 2027). A driver can hold a valid exam and still be downgraded if the record never posted.
Tracker entry CE-06 · Read it in the Tracker
EnforcementIn force
Since June 25, 2025 a driver who fails the roadside English assessment is placed out of service for the language failure itself — 12,308 out-of-service orders in the second half of 2025 alone. Codification is under way; enforcement is already live.
Tracker entry CE-01 · Read it in the Tracker
ELDOngoing
Revocation is by device name, model and ELD identifier, and white-label devices repeat under other brands. Every revocation starts a 60-day replacement clock. Check your exact device against the full list.
Tracker entry CE-05 · Search the revoked ELD list
CaliforniaSep 10, 2026
The High-Priority Fleets and Drayage portions of Advanced Clean Fleets were repealed effective Sep 10, 2026. Private carriers have no ACF obligation; Clean Truck Check testing still applies to every truck entering the state.
Tracker entry CA-02 · Read it in the Tracker
The current federal baseline, the 2025–26 change layer, the compliance calendar and California depth — as a PDF, with a last-checked date on every entry. Plus the weekly briefing.
Yes. The Tracker and the weekly briefing are free. The publication is supported by sponsors and partner offers, always labelled as paid — they never influence what the Tracker says.
No. The Trucking Ledger is independent early warning: we summarise rules from the primary sources so you know what changed and what to check. It is not legal or compliance advice, and it is not affiliated with FMCSA or the DOT. For a decision that affects your authority, confirm the rule in the cited source and with your own safety consultant or attorney.
One email a week. The Tracker itself is re-checked on a standing monitoring cycle — the Federal Register, FMCSA lists and newsroom, CVSA and CARB — and every entry shows the date it was last checked.
The Trucking Ledger's editorial desk reads the Federal Register, FMCSA rulemaking and enforcement output, and state sources, and writes the plain-English summary. Every item is checked against the primary source before it runs. A credentialed compliance professional is being engaged as the publication's Compliance Editor; once that appointment is announced, each issue will carry their review. We are translators, not regulators — and we show our sources so you can check the work.
Federal rules nationwide, plus California in depth. The ACT-adopter states (Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont) are on a watchlist and graduate to depth coverage as their rules move. State-only intrastate rules outside California are out of scope, and we say so rather than pretend otherwise.
So a revocation that hits your exact device can be flagged to you directly, with its 60-day replacement deadline. It is optional, and it is never sold.
Sponsorship and partnership slots for the products small carriers actually buy — factoring, ELDs, insurance, compliance services, load boards.