Owner Operator Independent Driver Association

House panel debates ELD certification, truck weight limits

WASHINGTON — Stakeholders in the trucking industry are jockeying for position on Capitol Hill as lawmakers begin prioritizing provisions to include in the next version of highway funding legislation.

A slate of issues were raised at a hearing Wednesday of a House Transportation subcommittee, including truck parking, freight fraud, driver pay and “fly-by-night” CDL schools, but increasing truck size and weights and evaluating the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s oversight of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/house-panel-debates-eld-certification-truck-weight-limits

Trump nominates trucking official to head FMCSA

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has nominated Derek Barrs of Florida to be administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, according to Senate documents published on Tuesday.

Derek Barrs. Credit: Flagler County School Board

Barrs, who was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in October to the School Board of Flagler County, is a member of the American Trucking Associations’ Law Enforcement Advisory Board, as well as a member of the Florida Trucking Association,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trump-nominates-trucking-official-to-head-fmcsa

Lawmakers reintroduce anti-fraud freight bill

WASHINGTON — The growing threat of freight fraud in trucking has led to another effort by Congress to crack down on scammers that steal millions from legitimate brokers and motor carriers.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s nonvoting delegate in the House, would give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration more power over fake companies attempting to register with the agency.

Specifically, the Household...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/lawmakers-reintroduce-anti-fraud-freight-bill

Regulators deny roadside warning exemption for autonomous trucks

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators ruled that autonomous trucking did not provide enough data backing a request to allow traditional warning devices used in roadside breakdowns to be replaced by cab-mounted beacons.

Waymo LLC and Aurora Operations (NASDAQ: AUR) filed a petition in 2023 with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration seeking an exemption – on behalf of the autonomous trucking industry – from rules requiring drivers to display ground-based reflective signs or road flares when a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/regulators-deny-roadside-warning-exemption-for-autonomous-trucks

California AG makes case against OOIDA’s legal battle to stop AB5

California’s attorney general has fired back at the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association in a federal appeals court, saying OOIDA’s arguments against the state’s independent contractor law, AB5, are “simply wrong in asserting [that the law] … effectively prohibits an entire sector of small business truckers from operating in California.”

OOIDA is alone now in the legal battle against the imposition of AB5 against trucking. The California Trucking Association launched the original...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/california-ag-makes-case-against-ooidas-legal-battle-to-stop-ab5

ATA chief rips OOIDA stance on Biden independent contractor rule

Lewie Pugh of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association made only a few comments at his House of Representatives committee appearance July 24 about the Biden administration’s independent contractor (IC) rule. 

But they were enough to draw a strong rebuke from Chris Spear, president of the American Trucking Associations. Spear took to ATA’s Transport Topics website last week to express his displeasure with OOIDA and the comments by Pugh, who is an executive vice president of OOIDA and inc...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ata-chief-rips-ooida-stance-on-biden-independent-contractor-rule

House lawmakers introduce bill to combat freight fraud

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill to crack down on scam freight brokers and trucking companies is receiving rare, near-unanimous support from all sectors of the industry.

The Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act, introduced by Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s nonvoting delegate in the House, and Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., targets fraudulent actors in the household goods sector.

However, new, stricter registration requirements and enforcement provisions in the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/house-lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-combat-freight-fraud

CTA, OOIDA to appeal court decision upholding AB5 in California trucking

The California Trucking Association and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association will appeal last month’s decision that rejected their latest attempt to block imposition of California independent contractor law AB5 on the state’s trucking sector.

The decision to appeal the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, filed Friday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, came as something of a surprise given the consensus in the trucking legal community...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cta-ooida-to-appeal-court-decision-upholding-ab5-in-california-trucking

Court upholds EPA’s ability to grant environmental waivers to California

The ability of California to set its own, more stringent environmental and emissions standards — the basis for the state’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule and possibly its Advanced Clean Fleets rule — was upheld Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The case, Ohio vs. EPA, had a plethora of plaintiffs, including 16 states besides Ohio and a group of petroleum-focused trade groups such as the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the National Association...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/court-upholds-epas-ability-to-grant-environmental-waivers-to-california

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