Lawmakers in the House and Senate return to Washington this week for the start of the first Congressional session of 2018, and a few hot issues related to trucking could see action in the coming weeks and months.
Though standalone trucking-related bills could see action, lawmakers likely will use larger bills — such as must-pass spending bills and a major infrastructure package — to enact trucking policy reforms.
Here’s a look at some of the trucking-related provisions likely to see action in Congress this session:
Stamping out state initiatives allowing breaks for drivers, pay reforms: Trucking trade groups last January signaled they intended to leverage Republican control in Washington to enact laws prohibiting states from requiring carriers to give drivers paid meal and rest breaks. The move would rein in states’ ability to interfere with drivers’ federally prescribed work schedules, seeking to reassert the federal government’s role in regulating drivers’ hours of service and protect carriers from expensive lawsuits. The provision, if passed, would also restrict states from requiring carriers to pay drivers for non-driving or off-duty time.
Work on the so-called Federal Authority provision, dubbed the Denham Amendment in years past, began in 2015 after a flurry of court rulings awarded drivers multi-million-dollar payouts from carriers. The driver plaintiffs in the case argued carriers hadn’t awarded them meal and rest breaks required by California law, and the courts mostly agreed and have ordered carriers to pay drivers, in some cases, tens of millions of dollars.
Speaking to CCJ last January, the Western States Trucking Association’s Joe Rajkovacz said the Federal Authority legislation is necessary to block court decisions that violate the spirit of the federal government’s authority over regulating drivers’ schedules and pay methods. The court rulings issued in recent years could create a wave of “me-too” lawsuits, he said. “It becomes legal blackmail against a small business: ‘Pay us or get sued and taken into court.”
The American Trucking Associations has also lobbied heavily for the Federal Authority provision lately, and it reiterated its support Tuesday in an email to members. ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in the email that ATA is “making a full court press” for Congress to enact the Federal Authority language.
