S. 806 would direct the Department of Transportation (DOT) along with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue regulations that allow motor carriers to use hair testing as an alternative to urinalysis when conducting pre-employment and random substance abuse testing of their commercial drivers. The bill also would require HHS to establish requirements for laboratory protocols for hair testing.
Under current law, motor carriers are required to test their drivers for substance abuse and, under DOT regulations, may only use urinalysis. S. 806 would require DOT to expand the allowable testing regimes to hair. CBO estimates that DOT would need two staff members for two years to complete this regulatory change and to review applications from motor carriers for exemptions until the rule is complete, which would cost about $500,000.
HHS recently completed proposed guidelines on detecting substance abuse using a specimen of an individual’s saliva. Based on information from the agency and its experience producing the proposed guidelines related to saliva testing, CBO estimates that producing similar guidelines for hair testing would cost about $3 million, mostly for subject matter experts and testing of protocols.
As a result, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $4 million over the 2016-2020 period, assuming the appropriation of the necessary amounts. Enacting S. 806 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
S. 806 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
