Welcome to Summer.  We hope you are all taking some time to relax and enjoy a bit of a slowdown as we head into the holiday weekend.  Life at the shore is good.  Happy 4th of July.  This month we report: 

FILING INSURANCE LIMITS TO REMAIN THE SAME – The House rejected an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Fiscal 2016 appropriations bill that would have opened the doors to an increase in insurance requirements for trucking and bus companies. As the restriction on increasing limits is also in the version passed by the Senate, while differences in the bill need to be worked out in a House-Senate conference and the ultimate bill signed by the President, it appears that there will be a freeze on current insurance requirements on trucking companies. We will let you know if anything more comes up on this issue.

FMCSA ATTACKED – At month end a bill was introduced in the Senate targeted at reformation of the FMCSA.  Under the proposal a review of rules, guidance, regulations and enforcement policies would be mandated every five years and numerous steps and protocols put in place to limit the ability of the FMCSA to implement rules, with mandated oversight of the rulemaking process from the Transportation Research Board or the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General.  It will be interesting to see where this goes. 

NHTSA REPORT – The Office of Inspector General released a report that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and its Office of Defects Investigation is “insufficient” in its handling of vehicle defects.   In its audit, OIG looked into ODI’s procedures for collecting vehicle safety data, analyzing data and identifying potential safety issues, and determining which of these issues should be further investigated. The OIG determined that there was a lack of guidance on what information should be reported so that there could be early warning of the defects.  All in all it was not a good rating for the department. The report is scheduled to be released later this year. 

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I hope you had a great month. Tiana and I were happy to meet with so many of you at the annual IMUA meeting.  It is always a pleasure to get together with old and new friends.  We were pleased to sponsor the Transportation Session and hope all those present learned some of the new issues facing the industry in this complex arena.  And speaking of Tiana I would like to give her a special acknowledgment, recognizing her promotion to Vice President at CAB.  It is a well-deserved promotion. 

I would also like to thank the IMUA and especially my friend Pat Stoik for the Excellence In Education Award. I am very proud to receive that award from the IMUA and Pat’s wonderful words meant so much to me.  We all need to continue to educate the industry.  CAB is proud to help in that endeavor. 

Before we head off to provide the news of the month, we take a special moment to thank our serviceman and woman for their service and sacrifice.  We are all very lucky to have such wonderful people protecting us. 

MOTOR CARRIER SELECTION PROCESS – The Transportation and Logistics Hiring Reform Act was introduced in the Senate this month.   It is designed to set national standards for shippers and third parties contracting or hiring trucking companies, requiring them to check a carrier’s federal safety rating, registration and insurance coverage before tendering freight.  The Senate bill would prohibit any other information being used against a shipper or broker in a negligent hiring case. 

DOT OVERSIGHT – The Inspector General of the DOT will undertake an audit of the ways that an at risk motor carrier are evaluated by the FMCSA.  The audit will evaluate investigative practices and the review process for compliance analysis.  In addition it will evaluate whether the steps are timely and sufficient. 

JOBS INCREASE – There has been an upward tick in jobs, after some significant losses in recent months.  The Department of Labor reports that a gain of nearly 2,000 jobs after the industry lost nearly 7,000 jobs the month prior. The “support activities for transportation” exhibited the highest gains with an addition of nearly 5,000 jobs. Only two subsectors showed losses with “transit and ground passenger transportation” losing 400 jobs and water transportation losing 100 jobs. 

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