GAWDA Committee News: Key Updates Ahead of the 2026 Annual Convention

The Government Affairs Committee will meet in person during the 2026 GAWDA Annual Convention in Boston. The Committee has seen a rash of retirements in recent years and is actively soliciting members to join. If you would like to join the Government Affairs Committee and help the committee further its mission to “educate, guide, and advise members about regulatory and legal issues that may affect our businesses and direct advocacy efforts towards the government to represent members’ interests,” please contact Chuck or Rick. The committee continues to work on its primary priorities:

1. The Food and Drug Administration final rule on medical gases went into effect on December 18, 2025, and Tom Badstubner has developed implementation procedures for GAWDA members. The final rule includes regulatory changes for product labeling, Current Good Manufacturing Practices, product certification, and post-marketing safety reporting.

2. In addition, as of February 2, 2026, the FDA imposed revisions to its medical device procedures to harmonize them with European requirements as set out in ISO 13485. The new regulations are in 21 CFR Part 830. The changes might affect processes such as lung diffusion mixes and clinical blood gases. Tom Badstubner has drafted new procedures for quality management systems and prepared new Standard Operating Procedures as well.
3. The CO2 Coalition led by CGA was successful in getting Congress to include language in the reconciliation bill to provide parity in tax credits for commercial use and sequestration of carbon dioxide. Parity under 45Q tax credit was given support and expanded. But the parity credit value only applies to facilities put into service following the passage of the bill (July 4, 2025). The new rate is $85 a ton and this will continue to grow over time.

4. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration held a series of public hearings in June 2025 on its proposed rule to protect indoor and outdoor workers from heat illness and injury while on the job. If finalized, the rule would affect 35 million workers nationwide. Employers would have to have a written heat injury and illness prevention plan and monitor heat levels at each work site, both indoors and outdoors. OSHA would adopt two heat index thresholds that would apply nationally and would factor in humidity as well as temperature. Employers would be required to check on people working alone every few hours and to issue a hazard alert, reminding their workers of the importance of staying hydrated. There would also be requirements for paid 15-minute breaks every two hours. The Trump Administration is expected to modify the proposed rule, however.

5. Congress has rescinded waivers previously granted to the California Air Resources Board to impose stricter emissions requirements for internal combustion engines for commercial trucks, and ultimately to ban the sale or operation of non-Zero-Emission Vehicles after 2036. The resolutions of disapproval were signed by President Trump; this prevents California and any other state from imposing the additional requirements. But there is a legal question as to whether the Congressional Review Act applies to EPA waivers, and 12 states have filed suit to invalidate the rescissions. If the suit is successful, EPA will have to go through a rulemaking to rescind the waivers.

6. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued guidance on how a motor carrier may assess a commercial motor vehicle driver’s English language proficiency. As of June 25, 2025, failure to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records” will result in an out-of-service violation for the driver.

7. FMCSA has also issued an interim final rule imposing new legal immigration status requirements on drivers seeking a commercial driver’s license or commercial learner’s permit effective September 29, 2025. Non-citizens are no longer eligible for a non-domiciled CDL unless they meet a much stricter set of rules, including an employment-based visa and undergoing a mandatory federal immigration status check. The rule is expected to eliminate licenses for upwards of 200,000 drivers currently operating in the U.S., but does not prevent drivers domiciled in Canada or Mexico from operating in the U.S. in international transportation.

8. FMCSA is also planning rulemakings to require all CDL tests to be conducted only in the English language and will eliminate the self-certification process for providers of Entry-Level Driver Training programs and Electronic Logging Devices.