Spending Bill May Restrain OMC

WASHINGTON (AP) - A spending bill awaiting President Clinton's signature contains language that could temporarily prevent the Transportation Department from imposing fines and taking other legal enforcement action against truckers.

The House Transportation Committee's ground transportation panel was meeting today to study the impact of a provision in a $50 billion fiscal 2000 spending bill that bars the Office of Motor Carriers from spending money to enforce certain truck safety regulations.

If Clinton, as expected, signs the bill, the OMC spending ban could run counter to existing law that states that the OMC is responsible for safety enforcement.

OMC Director Julie Cirillo, in a memo to staff members Monday, said that "no work will be done on any enforcement action. I will not be issuing any final orders."

Transportation Department spokesman Bill Schulz agreed Wednesday that legal enforcement action would be suspended until the legal issue is settled, but "we will make every effort to enforce highway safety laws despite this action."

He said inspections, including border checks, will continue without interruption, as will the OMC's other main responsibility, compliance reviews of carriers' operations. OMC staffers will be moved to as-yet-undetermined other offices in the department to carry out those duties, he said.

The provision was inserted by OMC critics who want to move truck safety functions to a different agency. They contend the office has been too close to the trucking industry, impeding regulators' ability to address the problem of truck-related traffic accidents.

Some 5,300 people are killed each year in accidents involving trucks, and the administration has pledged to cut that number in half.

The Cirillo memo informed staff that they would be transferred "en masse" to the new organizational unit, while members of the enforcement teams will be reassigned to other duties.