White House Office of Management and Budget is reviewing proposed regulations to mandate behind-the-wheel training as part of the commercial driver’s license requirements for entry-level commercial motor vehicle drivers. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in December 2005 that the current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulation for minimum entry-level driver training is inadequate because it doesn’t require any on-road training.
Federal Highway Administration has issued a new rule that would expedite the construction of roads and bridges by allowing states to pursue various contracting methods ranging from basic design-build contracts to long-term public-private concession agreements while simultaneously pursuing federal environmental approvals. For more information, visit http://dms.dot.gov/search and search Docket No. 22477.
Legislation (H.R. 3098) introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would define commercial motor vehicles as beginning at 26,001 pounds gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) rather than the current 10,001 pounds GVWR and would exempt intrastate drivers of vehicles carrying agricultural products from compliance with certain federal regulations. The bill is sponsored by Reps. David Boren (D-Okla.), Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) and Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.).
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed legislation to require a 20 percent biodiesel blend – known as B20 – by 2015. Beginning in September 2005, Minnesota required all diesel sold in the state to be 2 percent biodiesel, or B2. Under Pawlenty’s plan, mandatory biodiesel content would be B5 in 2008, B10 by 2011 and B15 by 2013.
Freight Transportation Services Index fell 0.7 percent in June from its May level, falling to its lowest level since February after a one-month rise, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported. The Freight TSI is down 3.7 percent from its peak of 113.1 achieved in November 2005. For the first six months of 2007, the Freight TSI was virtually unchanged.
Trucking Association Executives’ Council elected Arizona Trucking Association President Karen Rasmussen as its national chairman for 2007-2008. Other national officers elected are Vice Chairman Kenneth Cragen, president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association; Secretary/
Treasurer Bob Farrell, executive director of the National Automobile Carriers Conference; and Recording Secretary Elisabeth Barna, vice president of strategic planning and outreach of the American Trucking Associations.
The American Trucking Associations is calling on Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to push for a stay of a federal appeals court ruling on hours-of-service regulations and to encourage the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to conduct an expedited rulemaking to address the court’s concerns. An alternative to a stay is for the court to remand the rules, meaning that FMCSA would have to reconsider the two provisions the court objects to while those provisions still remain in place, ATA says.
