ATA Registers Major Victories In Busy Legislative Season

Four years ago, the Department of Transportation issued a notice of proposed rulemaking intended to modernize federal regulations governing how long truck and bus drivers can spend behind the wheel.

But this spring, when Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater finally unveiled the long-awaited overhaul of the hours of service, he set a deadline of only 90 days for public comment and said he wanted a final rule in place by the end of the year.

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The proposal, built on the goal of reducing truck-related accidents by providing drivers with more rest, launched a fusillade of criticism and set into motion a grassroots campaign by American Trucking Associations, first, to extend the comment period, and then, to halt the fast-track implementation of the proposal.

There was no question that the proposal, which would restrict a driver’s day to 12 hours as opposed to the current 15 hours on-duty, would have a far-reaching, negative impact on most trucking operations. Trucking companies large and small said they would have to hire more drivers and run more trucks on the road to make up for shorter driving hours, an economic hardship for most of them. Moreover, shipper and receiver schedules would be disrupted, trucking costs would rise, and the effect would probably be felt throughout the American economy, ATA said.

Industry opposition to the Department of Transportation’s hours proposal was nearly universal.

ATA’s blocking effort succeeded when President Clinton signed the fiscal 2001 transportation appropriations bill on Oct. 23. The bill contained a provision that put DOT’s rulemaking on ice for the next 12 months, while allowing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to continue researching issues involving driver alertness, fatigue and time on the job.

In the meantime, FMCSA will work with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to conduct more roadside inspections and help identify truck drivers with bad driving records. The information will be used to craft a new hours-of-service proposal.

Also, in the wake of a General Accounting Office report chiding the agency for its lack of well-defined data on the causes of truck crashes, FMCSA will work with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to identify the causes of large truck crashes.

Members of Congress were “never convinced what the causes of truck crashes were,” said a congressional staff member, who asked not to be identified. “We heard one thing from safety experts, another from the General Accounting Office and still other things from other groups. There is very little good data in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration about what constitutes unsafe operations,” the source said.

DOT spokesman David Longo declined to comment on when a new hours-of-service rule would be issued.

Another political victory for trucking was the decision by President Clinton to open the strategic petroleum reserve. The move temporarily lowered crude oil prices, although continued political turmoil in the Middle East has kept retail diesel prices at record highs and clouded the outlook for the near future.

There was also progress on a number of other issues this year.

In January, ATA achieved a long-time goal with the establishment of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Previously, motor carrier safety regulation was handled by the Federal Highway Administration through its Office of Motor Carriers. The new agency put trucking on par with the Federal Railway Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration within the Department of Transportation.

A bill to accelerate the timetable for returning to the 80% tax deduction for meals eaten by truck drivers while on the road passed the House of Representatives. Hopes are high among trucking lobbyists that the Senate will concur in the next congressional session.

Joining a broad-based business coalition, ATA lobbied to stop the implementation of ergonomics standards for the workplace by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [See related story].

In court, ATA challenged the Environmental Protection Agency on its plan to prescribe emissions standards for diesel engines without preparing a cost-benefit analysis or taking other prescribed rulemaking steps. The case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 7.

Looking ahead to the coming year, attempts to repeal the estate inheritance tax, which passed the House and Senate before being vetoed by President Clinton, are likely to be revived if the Republicans retain control of Congress. Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has pledged to kill the “death tax” if he is elected.

Other issues that loom large on the horizon in 2001 are proposals to raise limits on truck size and weight to allow greater productivity; changes to the way states issue commercial driver licenses; attempts to enact mandatory training for entry-level truck drivers; and the elimination or replacement of the single state registration system, which for-hire interstate trucking uses to register with the states in which they operate.