2 hour off duty time

It's in 'the book'

 

Passenger seat is on duty not driving.

 

That would be why he said

 

Did they make a change to this particular rule? I haven't seen them yet.

 

On Duty time now. Does not include any time resting in a parked vehicle (also applies to passenger-carrying drivers). In a moving property-carrying CMV, does not include up to 2 hours in passenger seat immediately before or after 8 consecutive hours in sleeper-berth.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/index.htm

 

Simplified answer to your question:

Yes.

That was easy.

 

No.

The new 2 hours off-duty in the passenger seat ONLY applies "immediately before or after a period of at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth."

The change was to facilitate team operations.

However, time spent "resting in or on a parked vehicle", regardless of exactly where that is, can be off-duty.

 

Tell you what, as long as you don't get worn out and it does not affect your rest and you don, have anything linking you to your activity or time stamped materials linking you to your activity, log it as you wish. Simple as that. Unless you get pulled over and DOTed and you are sitting in the passenger seat at the time and logged elsewere then no one really cares.

The most important thing is to get the rest you need. Remember that you might not need as much as others or you may need more then others. Only you know how much rest you actually need. And as long as everything else matches up then do as you wish.