A diverse group of industries have formed a coalition that is growing in membership while making an appeal to delay a federal regulation requiring trucks to be equipped with electronic logging devices.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is just one member of the group of 31 organizations in the coalition (listed below). Industries represented include agriculture, pyrotechnics, utility contractors, livestock, and several others that will be negatively impacted by the mandate.
“The electronic logging device mandate is written so broadly that it has far reaching implications well beyond the traditional trucking industry,” said Todd Spencer, executive vice-president of OOIDA.
The group supports a bill proposed by US Representative Brian Babin (R-TX-36) that would delay the ELD mandate for two years. Babin’s bill, HR 3282--the ELD Extension Act of 2017, would extend the current implementation date from December 2017 to December 2019.
The coalition says the mandate should be delayed until the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) addresses numerous unresolved issues identified by impacted stakeholders.
There are significant technological and real-world concerns that have not been addressed by FMCSA, according to OOIDA. These concerns include the certification of devices (or lack thereof), connectivity problems in remote areas of the country, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and the ability of law enforcement to access data. The FMCSA’s inability or refusal to resolve these issues makes the enactment of HR 3282 unquestionably necessary.
ELD opponents contend the mandate is estimated to cost impacted stakeholders more than $2 billion, making it one of the most expensive federal transportation rulemakings over the last decade. They say this is a massive unfunded mandate that provides no safety, economic, or productivity benefits for most ensnared by the mandate. Notwithstanding the significant costs associated with the rule, it simply will not be ready for implementation on December 18, 2017.
HR 3282 will provide FMCSA and impacted stakeholders more time to work out fundamental problems associated with the rule.
Commercial truck drivers are restricted to a limited number of working and driving hours under current regulations. The FMCSA’s mandate requires that truck drivers use ELDs to track their driving and non-driving activities even though such devices can only track movement and location of a vehicle. OOIDA contends that requiring electronic monitoring devices on commercial vehicles does not advance safety since they are no more reliable than paper logbooks for recording compliance with hours-of-service regulations.
List of anti-ELD coalition members:
Agricultural Retailers Association
American Pipeline Contractors Association
American Pyrotechnics Association
Associated Equipment Distributors
Distribution Contractors Association
Livestock Exporters Association of the USA
Lucas Oil Products
Mid-West Truckers Association
National Association of Chemical Distributors
National Association of Small Trucking Companies
National Aquaculture Association
National Corn Growers Association
National Cotton Council
National Electrical Contractors Association
National Federation of Independent Business
National Grain and Feed Association
National Ground Water Association
National Hay Association
National Motorists Association
National Precast Concrete Association
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association
National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association
New England Fuel Institute
North American Wood Pole Council
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
Petroleum Marketers Association of America
Power & Communication Contractors Association
Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute
SikhsPAC
Southern Pressure Treaters’ Association
United States Cattlemen’s Association