Carrier payouts to drivers a target in Congress again this year

Congress is again considering legislation that would block state-level efforts to dictate driver pay reforms and hours of service restrictions. The so-called Denham Amendment, first brought to the table by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) in 2015, seeks to reassert federal authority over hours of service regulations and the industry’s standard per-mile driver pay model.

Passage of the Denham Amendment this Congressional session is a legislative priority for some of the industry’s top lobbyists, including the American Trucking Associations and the Western States Trucking Association.

This is the third straight year Congress has considered the Denham Amendment. Attempts were made in 2015 to attach the language to the FAST Act highway bill, though those efforts failed. Last year, both chambers considered the Denham language as part of Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization packages. Those efforts failed too, as lawmakers were unsuccessful in passing an FAA bill. The Senate and the House this year are again using the FAA bill as a potential avenue to enact the Denham Amendment.

The Denham provisions intend to block states from enacting and enforcing any laws that impede on federal hours of service regulations, such as meal and rest break requirements in California.

The Denham language attached to a recent Senate bill by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) differs slightly from recent attempts, targeting only meal and rest break laws at state-levels.

Court decisions in recent years prompted industry lobbyists, such as ATA, to press for the Denham Amendment’s passage in Congress. Proponents argue that the 1994 Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (aka FAAAA or F4A) prohibits states from enacting laws that interfere with “prices, routes or services” of motor carriers. State laws that require paid breaks for drivers, as well as driver pay reform efforts, violate that statute, proponents say.

Other court decisions calling for major payouts from carriers to drivers, such as the $60 million settlement reached between Walmart and its drivers this year, prompt the need for the Denham Amendment, says Joe Rajkovacz, head of regulatory affairs for the Western States Trucking Association. Such orders would spur a wave of lawsuits from drivers seeking similar payouts from their carriers, Rajkovacz says, even when those carriers are operating well within the law and within industry standards.