* DC - Coalition calls on Senate to reject 'anti-safety' agenda in DOT funding bill
-- With the U.S. Senate set this week to take up the annual budget for the Dept. of Transportation, an ad hoc coalition of safety, labor, law enforcement and public health groups is urging lawmakers to resist the “insatiable” economic agenda of the trucking industry... “We strongly urge you to oppose any special interest anti-truck safety riders including changes to the truck driver hours of service (HOS) rules that would jeopardize the safety of truck drivers and the motoring public,” reads the letter to Appropriations committee leaders. It’s signed by representatives of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Parents Against Tired Truckers, Truck Safety Coalition, Road Safe America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Assn., the Trauma Foundation, and others... The coalition’s plea comes just days after Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, sent a letter of her own to leaders on the Appropriations Committee urging them to oppose efforts to include an “outrageous” provision in the THUD appropriations bill that would “dock the pay of truck drivers” by superseding state labor and wage laws for drivers engaged in interstate commerce...
(Photo: Highway bill restart 'suspension' needs a redo) -- Washington, DC, USA - Fleet Owner, by Kevin Jones - Apr 19, 2016
** DC - Senate prepares to make truck safety even worse
-- Safety advocates are crying foul over yet another change to trucking safety rules that the industry is trying to slide though Congress with no hearings, no public evaluation and no scientific study... The move comes just days after The Huffington Post revealed that large trucking industry groups have spent the last several years quietly circumventing normal legislative procedures to win safety rule concessions — even as truck crashes have been on the rise... Normally, transportation policy is decided by the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. But failing to make progress there, the trucking industry seems to have persuaded the Appropriations Committee to add its policy provisions to spending bills... In this case, according to advocates who have been briefed about the bill, the industry wrote a provision that will place some sort of cap on truckers’ work, keeping either driving or working hours to 73 per week... Exactly what the cap — which is about 30 hours more than most Americans work each week — would mean is not completely clear. Representatives for Democratic and Republican leaders on the committee declined to make the language available to HuffPost, saying it will be public after the full committee considers the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill for 2017 this Thursday...
(Photo: The industry has given lawmakers language that will set 73-hour maximum work weeks for drivers) -- Washington, DC, USA - The Huffington Post, by Michael McAuliff - 19 April 2016Labels: Hours Of Service, trucking industry news USA
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