Editorial: Getting Hours Glacier Moving
People who work with Julie Cirillo, including some who have been her subordinates since she became director of the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety in January, think she’s the one who can get the job done. In her speech to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance last week, Cirillo said it is her goal to have a final rule ready by the end of 2000.
She also said she could have the hours-of-service proposal ready for public comment by July if her superiors decided “tomorrow” not to throw the proposal into a negotiated rulemaking — a “reg-neg” in Washington parlance. Bringing all interested parties together and hammering out details of the regulations would take as much as another year, although if no consensus is emerging, this could be cut short.
Nothing else in the pipeline will have as profound an effect on trucking operations as reform of the driving-rest cycle. Every little tweak is critical to someone. But since human nature is to see the negatives first, federal officials are already bracing for a storm of complaints. No matter how the rules are sliced and diced, “we expect everyone to scream bloody murder,” one official said.
This is the type of built-in inertia that Cirillo, herself a bureaucrat for most of her career, must overcome if she is to meet her self-imposed deadlines. Some think she has the heat to melt the glacier; others say, “Show me.”
CVSA President Harry Eubanks, whose organization represents roadside truck inspectors, says he likes what he’s seen so far in Cirillo. “She does what she says she’ll do,” he told TRANSPORT TOPICS.
In the words of one OMCHS department head, Cirillo is “all business” and makes decisions quickly, leaving no doubt about direction and purpose. That observation is consistent with her public demeanor, which is serious and focused, with just enough humor to leaven the loaf. Not mealy-mouthed, certainly.
The lady will need steel to cut through the obstacles in her path.
