Rep. Richard Hanna Expresses ‘Strong Opposition’ to FMCSA Certification-Label Proposal
A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed rule that would require commercial vehicles operating across interstates to display a certification label to note their safety would not reduce the risk of crashes, Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) told the agency this month.
In a letter to FMCSA General Counsel Scott Darling, the agency’s acting head, Hanna stressed his “strong opposition” to the proposed rule and urged FMCSA not to take further action on it.
Hanna, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure panel in the House, said, “penalizing [commercial motor vehicle] operators if their equipment had a missing or unreadable certification label, as proposed, is an unworkable rule that would create a duplicative layer of regulation and fail to reduce the risk of crashes.”
The congressman added that a certification label has “little to no bearing on that vehicle’s ability to operate safely years, or often decades, after it was purchased,” and it would introduce “nearly impossible hurdles for CMV operators to overcome.”
In June, FMCSA issued a proposed rule that would require carriers in interstate commerce to use commercial vehicles that display a certification label indicating federal motor vehicle safety standards.
The proposal is intended to address concerns raised by the National Transportation Safety Board regarding the operation of commercial vehicles that do not display certification labels, the agency explained.
The FMCSA proposal was also mentioned in a legislative briefing at the fall meeting of the Technology & Maintenance Council. Ted Scott, ATA director of engineering services, gave the briefing Sept. 24 in Orlando, Florida.
Scott said in written comments to FMCSA that ATA “adamantly opposes the implementation of this proposed Commercial Vehicle Certification Label rule.”
