At 5 am eastern this morning, when many truckers were either starting their day or still asleep in their cabs, the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee passed a highly partisan highway bill, H.R. 3284, the INVEST in America Act.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, today released his highway bill proposal which includes an unnecessary increase in minimum liability insurance for motor carriers that the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association says is a poison pill.
A group of U.S. Senators have said that small-business truckers and other industries that rely on trucking cannot bear the financial burden of a policy that could end up in the next transportation reauthorization bill. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association commends U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) for encouraging his colleagues to sign a letter opposing an unnecessary increase in federal liability insurance requirements for motor carriers.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association led a coalition of more than 60 trade associations in voicing opposition against any increase of federally-mandated insurance minimums for motor carriers. The coalition sent a letter to Senate transportation leadership contending that higher insurance levels would do nothing to improve highway safety and would have a severe economic impact on truckers, farmers and manufacturers by significantly increasing their operational costs.
Small-business truckers have succeeded in getting a potentially devastating proposed regulation withdrawn by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and its members had vehemently opposed a proposed rulemaking to arbitrarily increase insurance minimums for commercial motor carriers. In 2014, the FMCSA proposed increasing federally mandated levels of insurance coverage for property and passenger motor carriers from $750,000 to $4 million.