ATA Releases Transportation Reauthorization Positions
The American Trucking Associations has released a 31-page document outlining issues it would like to see considered during the reauthorization of federal surface transportation legislation, covering everything from highway safety to labor issues to truck user fees.
The Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 expires at the end of fiscal year 2003, which ends in September 2003. By the spring of 2003, debate over reauthorization of transportation programs is expected to be in high gear.
Some of the more controversial issues in the document deal with truck drivers. For instance, ATA will urge government officials to keep the exemption for truck drivers to the overtime pay law. ATA notes that while truck drivers are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime pay law, they are not exempt from the FLSA's minimum wage law. "The minimum wage provision and the hours of service rules ensure reasonable compensation and working conditions," says ATA's document.
Addressing another controversial issue, ATA wants to prevent the DOT from issuing regulations on entry-level driver training. Calling the record of today's truck drivers "second to none," the association says federal regulations and the commercial drivers license program already require truck drivers to know how to safely operate their vehicles. In addition, it says, different motor carriers in very differing vocations know better than regulators what specific training their drivers need. Instead of entry-level training standards, ATA would like to see incentive programs designed to increase and promote the use of industry-based driver training programs.
Among the other issues the ATA would like to see addressed are:
• A shortage of truck parking in many areas.
• The smooth flow of commercial traffic at the nation's borders.
• Keeping hours-of-service exemptions such as those for adverse driving conditions, 100 air-mile radius drivers, oilfield operations and agricultural operations.
• Opposing mandated on-board recorders ("black boxes").
• Increasing the resources available for motor carrier safety enforcement.
• Educating the public on sharing the road with trucks.
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