PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 404.
Congressional Research Service
Version 01 · Reported to Senate with amendment(s) · Mar 28, 2016
Drug Free Commercial Driver Act of 2015
(Sec. 2) This bill revises regulations that require motor carriers to conduct preemployment, reasonable suspicion, random, and post-accident testing of commercial motor vehicle operators for controlled substances or alcohol.
Motor carriers may use hair testing as an acceptable alternative to urinalysis for detecting use of controlled substances by individuals, but only for preemployment testing and random testing.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
The Department of Transportation shall develop requirements for laboratories and testing procedures for controlled substances that include mandatory guidelines that establish, among other things, laboratory protocols and cut-off levels for hair testing to detect the use of such substances.
(Sec. 3) A motor carrier that demonstrates it can carry out a hair testing program consistent with generally accepted industry standards may apply to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for exemption from mandatory urinalysis testing. Requires the FMCSA, in evaluating an application for this exemption, to determine if the applicant's testing program employs procedures and protections similar to those of fleets that have carried out hair testing programs for at least one year.
A testing program may not receive an exemption unless the testing laboratories: have obtained laboratory accreditation specific to hair testing from an accrediting body, compliant with international or other federal standards, such as the College of American Pathologists; and
utilize hair testing assays that have been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Any motor carrier granted an exemption must submit records of all positive hair test results and test refusals to the national clearinghouse for records relating to alcohol and controlled substances testing of commercial motor vehicle operators.
(Sec. 4) The Department of Health and Human Services shall issue scientific and technical guidelines for hair testing as a method for detecting the use of controlled substances.
People & committees
Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] · R–AR
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 404.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Thune under authority of the order of the Senate of 03/17/2016 with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 114-232.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Thune under authority of the order of the Senate of 03/17/2016 with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 114-232.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.806 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.806 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.806 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.806 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.