Congress Wraps Budget Bill
Rep. Frank Wolf apparently would not relent in his fight to transfer of the Office of Motor Carriers from the Federal Highway Administration to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. His proposal is not related to the reorganization of OMC and its field offices in Federal Highway Administrator Kenneth Wykle’s plan for reorganizing some bureaus under his control (TT, 10-12-98, p. 1).
Mr. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), who chairs the subcommittee that handles transportation appropriations, insists that OMC would work better under NHTSA. He kept a pitched battle going last week with Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and others to prevent anyone from taking the OMC transfer out of the omnibus spending bill, personally lobbying House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) for support.
Mr. Shuster is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which some say usurped at least part the traditional appropriating power for the federal aid to highways when it drew up the huge TEA 21, the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century.
“Frank Wolf has made the transfer of this small office a major issue,” he said.
According to Mr. Wittinghill, Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said he would support ATA in its opposition to the transfer of the trucking agency.
It was a different story regarding ergonomics regulations. Here trucking claimed victory, because the omnibus bill contains funding for a comprehensive review of scientific literature surrounding the relationship between repetitive tasks in the workplace and repetitive stress disorders.
The study would be performed by the National Academy of Sciences.
Although the provision doesn’t stop the Occupation Health and Safety Administration from proceeding with an ergonomics rulemaking next year, results of the study could supply the ammunition for a legal challenge to any regulation that fails to reflect scientific principles, said Laurie Baulig, ATA’s senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs.
“This is a victory for common sense,” ATA President Walter B. McCormick Jr. said. “It is the result of a hard-charging effort led by ATA and joined in by a broad-based coalition of business interests.
It demonstrates what can be accomplished when this industry speaks with one voice.”
Congressional conferees also agreed to a 30-month delay before U.S. Customs will have to launch a new visa check system at international border points.
Transportation and trade representatives had sought to repeal a provision in a 1996 immigration reform law that requires all foreign nationals to be checked at the border to ensure they did not overstay their visas.
Implementation of Section 110 would have led to increased traffic backups and delays of up to 17 hours at some ports of entry, according to Martin Rojas, director of international affairs for ATA.
Before capping off the 105th Congress, federal lawmakers had already granted trucking employers one of their wishes: to let them hire drivers over the phone.
Trucking employers no longer will need written permission from driver applicants before obtaining their employment records through a third party, once President Clinton signs the Consumer Reporting Employment Act of 1998, sponsored by Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.)
The legislation was headed to the president desk well before Congress finally wrapped up its spending package (TT, 10-12-98, p. 7).
“These changes basically enable companies to do what they had done previously hire drivers over the phone,” said Dick Wimbish, president of DAC Services, Tulsa, Okla. Mr. Wimbish’s company is one of the largest background checkers in the industry, with about 6,000 clients, mostly truckload carriers.
“This will certainly make the hiring process more efficient and less costly than it has been,” said Lana R. Batts, president of the Truckload Carriers Assn.
Mr. Nickles’ bill also will streamline the process for denying employment based on consumer reports and eliminate limitations on access to criminal convictions.
Under changes made to the Fair Credit Reporting Act last October, companies have had to disclose in writing that a background check was being made and get an applicant’s written permission to do so.
The problem is that trucking’s hiring process usually begins with a telephone call. And with driver turnover at an all-time high throughout the industry, recruiters say immediate verification of safety and employment information is critical. The need for written authorization forces prospective drivers and employers to send numerous faxes back and forth, which is cumbersome and costly, industry people say.
“Those amendments significantly increased the burdens associated with hiring drivers in the trucking industry, particularly for carriers that receive employment applications over the telephone, through the mail, or via the internet,” said ATA’s Ms.Baulig.
She said the new changes “strike the appropriate balance between protecting drivers’ rights to dispute erroneous employment information and minimizing the burdens on motor carriers in conducting background checks. The act is also pro-safety because it allows motor carriers to make timely hiring decisions based on the best available safety information.”
She said the legislation is the result of a year-long effort by ATA, TCA and DAC Services to get relief for the trucking industry from last year’s disclosure requirement.
“The waiting period has been the biggest thing for us,” said Pat Sullens, director of Recruitment for Ronnie Dowdy Truck Service, Batesville, Ark. “A guy would call in and want us to take care of it over the phone but we couldn’t.” Mr. Sullens said he receives in the neighborhood of 100 calls per week from drivers seeking employment. Mr. Sullens said he might hire 20 or 25 of them.
Donald A Orr, president of Roberson Transportation Services, Champaign, Ill., said the new changes will speed up the hiring process by saving time and reducing paperwork. “It’s a complex amount of time spent on applications and I think everything about the new changes will be good,” Mr. Orr said.
