Trucking Association Thanks Congress for Affirming Federal Supremacy in Rulemaking

(May 4, 2018) — The American Trucking Associations (ATA) is thanking members of the U.S. House of Representatives for passing, in a bipartisan vote, an amendment to a reauthorization bill preventing states from creating a patchwork of meal and rest rules for interstate truck drivers.ATA comments that the amendment would clarify Congress’ intention to have primary regulatory authority over interstate commerce and end the erosion of this authority by states that impose meal and rest break rules that run counter to national uniformity.

The organization adds that these unnecessary and duplicative laws are not grounded in safety, nor are they being enforced by states. Rather, they are being used to fuel “spurious litigation designed to extort the trucking industry, impairing the safe and efficient movement of interstate goods.”

“Since our republic was founded, the federal government—not individual states like California—has had the power to regulate interstate commerce,” said ATA president and CEO Chris Spear. “Congress reaffirmed this for the trucking industry, first in 1994 and again by the recent approval of the Denham-Cuellar-Costa amendment.Thanks to the leadership of congressmen Denham, Cuellar, and Costa for raising this critical issue, and to the bipartisan majority for affirming that the federal government has the last word on interstate safety rules.”

(SOURCE: The Weekly Propane Newsletter, May 7, 2018)