This two-part series takes a look at what might be in store for trucking and motor carriers in 2021. This first installment details what regulations fleets can expect to see action on in the coming year. The second installment will cover expectations for freight demand, rates and the economy in 2021. Read it next week.
A proposal from the U.S. DOT to require speed limiters on heavy-duty trucks was tabled in 2017, less than a year after it was proposed by FMCSA. Regs around speed limiters could see new life under the Biden Administration.
Driver classification laws. Expected in the early months of 2021 is a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the California Trucking Association’s (CTA) case against California’s A.B. 5 law, which was largely interpreted as blocking motor carriers from contracting loads to owner-operators or small fleets. It spurred many carriers to stop working with owner-operators all together, including leased owner-operators who own their own truck but run under the authority of another carrier.
The 9th Circuit’s decision will either uphold or end a preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court in Southern California, which ruled that trucking should remain exempt from the law (and thus retain the ability for carriers and owner-operators to work together) until CTA’s case can be adjudicated in full, which could ultimately mean a stop at the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming years.
This year, however, the 9th Circuit’s decision could reverberate beyond the case at hand, said Joe Rajkovacz, head of government affair at the Western States Trucking Association.
“The decision will likely determine the extent to which a Democratic Congress pushes forward with nationalizing A.B. 5. A bill was entered last year to do exactly that. I suppose Congress could still move forward with the bill if they wanted but the overwhelming passage of Proposition 22 here in California should serve as a warning to Democrats on Capitol Hill that controversy surrounding this type of legislation is highly toxic – even with voters who traditionally support Democrats.” Proposition 22 was a ballot initiative to essentially exempt so-called “app-based” rideshare and delivery drivers from the A.B. 5 law. It passed with nearly 60% of the vote in favor.
Insurance liability changes. Examining – and potentially raising by millions of dollars – the minimum amount of liability insurance required of motor carriers might be part of a trio of regulations tabled in the early months of the Trump presidency that see new life this year. With a new administration in the White House and Democrats taking control of both chambers of Congress, the issue of raising the $750,000 minimum for carriers’ liability coverage could be revived. The American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association both opposed that rulemaking. Lane Kidd, managing director of the Trucking Alliance, which represents some of the country’s largest for-hire motor carriers, said the rulemaking could be renewed either by the incoming Biden DOT or at the legislative level.
