FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse Explained

The Clearinghouse is FMCSA's database of drug and alcohol violations for CDL drivers. If you drive or run a fleet, here's what you actually have to do — in plain English.

What the Clearinghouse is

The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is a secure FMCSA database that records drug and alcohol program violations by CDL and CLP holders. It went live in January 2020. Before it existed, a driver could fail a test at one carrier and simply apply down the road — the next employer largely had to rely on the driver's honesty and on paper requests to previous employers that often went unanswered. The Clearinghouse closes that gap: a violation follows the driver.

Who has to register

• Drivers — you don't need an account just to drive, but you do need one to give electronic consent for a full query and to see your own record. Most drivers register when an employer asks for consent.
• Employers — you must register to run queries and to report violations.
• Owner-operators — if you're self-employed, you must designate a consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) to run queries and report on your behalf. You can't police yourself here.

Registration is free. Employers buy query plans to cover the queries they run.

The two queries you must run

This is where most small carriers slip up, because there are two different checks:

• Pre-employment — full query. Before you let a CDL driver perform safety-sensitive functions, you must run a full query. It requires the driver's electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse, which is why the driver needs an account.
• Annual — limited query. At least once every 12 months for every CDL driver you employ. A limited query only tells you whether there's information in that driver's record. It runs on a general consent form you keep in your own files, not electronic consent.

If a limited query comes back showing information exists, you have 24 hours to run a full query — and the driver can't perform safety-sensitive functions until it's resolved.

What gets reported

Employers, medical review officers, and substance abuse professionals report:

• Positive DOT drug test results, and alcohol tests of 0.04 or higher
• Refusals to test
• Actual knowledge of prohibited drug or alcohol use
• Negative return-to-duty test results and completion of follow-up testing

Getting back to driving

A violation puts a driver in prohibited status — no driving a CMV, legally, period. Getting out of it means the full return-to-duty (RTD) process: an evaluation by a Substance Abuse Professional, completing whatever education or treatment they prescribe, passing an RTD test, and finishing a follow-up testing plan. Records stay in the Clearinghouse for five years, or until the RTD process and follow-up testing are complete — whichever is later.

The CDL downgrade rule

Since November 18, 2024, state driver licensing agencies must query the Clearinghouse before issuing, renewing, transferring, or upgrading a CDL or CLP — and must downgrade the CDL of any driver in prohibited status. A violation isn't only an employment problem anymore; it costs you the license itself until you complete the return-to-duty process. Like an expired DOT medical card, it's a paperwork status that parks the truck.

Keeping the calendar straight

Clearinghouse compliance is really a calendar problem: an annual query per driver, consent forms on file, med cards current, logs clean. Miss one annual query and it's a finding at your next audit — and it lands on your CSA record alongside everything else. TruckSpot ELD keeps your Hours of Service and driver-qualification records in one dashboard, so the compliance side of each driver isn't scattered across a filing cabinet and someone's memory.

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Frequently asked questions