Third Quarter 2010
www.cvsa.org
THE LEGISLATIVE RUNDOWN
CVSA Testifies Before Senate and House Committees By Richard D. Henderson, CVSA, Director, Government Affairs Richard Henderson
CVSA President testifies at Senate Hearing on Oversight of Motor Carrier Safety Efforts CVSA President Francis (Buzzy) France recently testified at a hearing before the Senate Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security on “Oversight of Motor Carrier Safety Efforts” on April 28, 2010. Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) chaired the hearing and emphasized issues he considered of greatest importance: electronic onboard recorders, hours-of-service rules, CSA 2010 and truck size and weight. Ranking subcommittee member Sen. John Thune (R-SD) emphasized the importance of state efforts in making CSA 2010 successful and also expressed concern about the lack of harmonization in truck size and weight standards. Sen. Clare McCaskell (DMO) expressed strong concern about the lack of concern that driver pay is most often determined by miles rather than hours worked and recommended that a study be conducted about the effect of this on truck study. Questions directed to CVSA President France concerned hours-of-service, EOBRs, and truck size and weight. He reaffirmed CVSA Reauthorization policy on each of these issues. Chairman Lautenberg raised the possibility of a further hearing on truck size and weight. CVSA Testifies Before House Highways and Transit Subcommittee on CSA 2010 CVSA’s Interim Executive Director, Stephen A. Keppler testified before the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit at a hearing on June 23, 2010 called by Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-
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OR) to review FMCSA’s plans to implement CSA 2010. Keppler testified on a panel of witnesses that included FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro, representatives of the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and the Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). While there were concerns about the process and timing of the implementation of CSA 2010, there was general consensus among all of the witnesses on the overall need for the new plan. Members agreed if the implementation was done carefully, a significant improvement in commercial vehicle safety would be the result. Key issues raised by ATA and OOIDA were crash preventability, violations being counted against the carrier without an effective due process procedure in place and using VMT as an exposure measure rather than power units. Other issues were the weightings being considered for the Safety Fitness Determination Rulemaking, as well as the possibility of inconsistent enforcement among the states such as probable cause states having a disproportionate amount of violations assigned to carriers for safety rating purposes. A key concern of CVSA, also shared by Chairman DeFazio and other subcommittee members, was whether the states will have adequate funding to implement the new program since they will have to expend the same resources as FMCSA for this purpose. Administrator Ferro said FMCSA would look into the possibility of letting states use funding from the state safety grant programs, including MCSAP, to help with these costs.
House DOT-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Marks Up 2011 Funding Bill This subcommittee reported out its version of the bill to the full House Appropriations Committee on July 1. Since a new Transportation Reauthorization bill has not yet been passed, motor carrier safety programs will be funded at the maximum limits allowed under SAFETEA-LU, as was the case with the 2010 funding bill. However, at the request of FMCSA, an additional $20 million was approved for their administrative budget to help with the costs associated with CSA 2010. Final action on the 2011 budget is uncertain. The entire appropriations process in Congress is behind schedule and there is a possibility that Congress will not complete work on the appropriations bills by the start of the new fiscal year that starts on October 1 of this year. There will very likely be at least one or more Continuing Resolutions before final passage. Since this is an election year, Congress is anticipating an early adjournment. Auto Safety Bill Extends Event Data Recorders Requirement to Commercial Vehicles Both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee have reported their respective versions of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010. The bill number in the House is HR 5381 and in the Senate, S. 3302. As of this moment, floor action in either the House or Senate has not been scheduled. This legislation largely deals with issues raised by the Toyota crisis by strengthening the power and authority