Long-awaited changes may be coming soon to trucking industry drug and alcohol testing programs — namely the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.
For years, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has advocated for the use of hair testing in the Clearinghouse, pointing to data that suggests this process is much more effective in identifying drug use than the currently approved urinalysis. Certain drugs leave the system within days, allowing drug users to time their use so that urine samples are clean when testing occurs
A simple internet search reveals that products designed to help users pass urine tests are big business. These products don’t work on hair tests.
Legislation Moves Forward
The FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act), passed back in December 2015, called for the U.S. Department of Housing and Human Services (HHS) to issue guidelines for the use of alternative testing — including hair.
More than a decade later, the industry is still waiting.
In 2025 oral fluid testing, which is more accurate and harder to cheat than urinalysis, was approved for use — with the caveat that testing could begin as soon as laboratories were certified to receive samples.
That hasn’t happened yet either.
Recently, TCA members were excited by the inclusion of hair testing in the proposed BUILD America 250 highway reauthorization bill introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives.
In reality, however, the bill reiterates the language of the FAST Act of 2015: It requires the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to move within one year of receiving guidance from HHS. Unfortunately, there is no deadline set for HHS to issue that guidance.
The provision may be strengthened or removed by the time the bill reaches the president’s desk for signature, but an earlier event just may have a bigger impact.
A Step Toward Change
A May 1, 2026, notice in the Federal Register by HHS could provide momentum to finally change the testing process. The agency proposes to exempt “certain class II clinical toxicology test system devices” from the prenotification requirement of section 510(k) of the law that created the Food and Drug Administration in 1938.
This requirement mandated that manufacturers or distributors must give the FDA 90-day notice of intent to market a device. The FDA would then check to see if the new devices were “substantially equivalent” to other products already on the market. If not … no sale.
The FDA proposes removing the words “and does not include devices intended for Federal drug testing programs” from the limitations for each of the 14 listed devices, exempting them from the prenotification requirement and clearing the way for adoption by the USDOT and FMCSA.
The National Drug & Alcohol Screening Association (NDASA), which petitioned for the change, issued a statement:
“This is not just a regulatory update. It is a long overdue modernization of a public safety program that millions of Americans depend on without knowing it.”
The public comment period for the HHS notice ended June 30, and a final ruling will eventually be published. This could clear the way for certification of labs for oral fluid testing — and also remove barriers to hair testing.
TCA Advocates for Progress
That’s good news to Dave Heller, TCA’s senior vice president of safety and government affairs.
Discussing BUILD America 250, he said, “I think this is a great start by the committee and Chairman (Sam) Graves, putting some really strong pieces of legislation in there that will move this industry forward,” Heller said when discussing the BUILD America 250 act.
“It keeps that door open and puts, once again, pressure on HHS to get this done,” he said of the hair testing provision.
John Culp, president of Arkansas-based Maverick Transportation and a past TCA chair, is also glad to see movement on the issue.
“It is unbelievable to me that Washington bureaucrats refuse to allow positive hair test results to be submitted to the Clearinghouse,” Culp said.
Maverick utilizes hair testing for its driver hires in addition to the federally mandated urine testing — but is restricted from sharing the results in the Clearinghouse.
Culp provided some stunning numbers.
“Since August of 2012, we have drug tested 16,197 drivers using both methods — with 624 drivers testing positive for drug use with the hair test. But only 21 of the 624 tested positive with the urine test,” he said. “That’s 603 drivers we had actual knowledge of a positive drug test, but we were not able to report them to the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.”
Any or all of those 603 drivers could be driving today for a carrier that does not know they failed a drug test, Culp noted.
“It flies in the face of safety when we know that someone just failed a drug test and we can’t report it,” he said. “Personally, it just feels terrible.”
Opposition to Hair Testing
There have been negative claims about hair testing. One claim is that ethnic groups with darker hair, indicating more melanin content, are more likely to come up positive, as are people using certain hair care products.
A Boston jury awarded $2.6 million to a police officer who claimed discrimination after being fired for a positive hair test.
A 2020 study of over 70,000 drug test results by the University of Central Arkansas, however, found no disparate impact among ethnic groups between urine and hair testing. The data was supplied by The Trucking Alliance, a group of carriers that use hair testing.
See Pages 10-11 to find out more about TCA’s stance on drugs and alcohol.
Almost There?
Heller thinks more steps are coming, but perhaps the government is finally getting there.
“Removal of the 510(k) premarket notification makes it easier to get some of these tests in the marketplace,” he said. “There are steps that need to happen on this, but I think that the government is starting to crack down and provide additional enforcement, which is what we’ve always wanted.”
Heller pointed to other recent industry wins.
“We’re seeing (success) with the entry-level driver training, we’re seeing it with English language proficiency and we’re seeing it with the non-domiciled CDL regulations,” he said. “Hair testing has got to be classified in that loop, right?”
Culp is feeling positive that hair testing might finally be approved.
“Secretary (Sean) Duffy and Administrator (Derek) Barrs will be supportive of any move that improves highway safety,” he said. “I think it’s really going to happen. Under this administration putting drug users on the road is not going to fly, period.”
Whether legislated through Congress or mandated by the agency rulemaking process, it would appear that both oral fluid and hair testing are a few steps closer to reality.
This story first appeared in the July/August 2026 print edition of Truckload Authority, the official publication of the Truckload Carriers Association.
Cliff Abbott is an experienced commercial vehicle driver and owner-operator who still holds a CDL in his home state of Alabama. In nearly 40 years in trucking, he’s been an instructor and trainer and has managed safety and recruiting operations for several carriers. Having never lost his love of the road, Cliff has written a book and hundreds of songs and has been writing for The Trucker for more than a decade.
