The Department of Transportation (DOT) has recently issued an updated Significant Rulemaking Report outlining potential publication dates for rulemaking by DOT agencies. Notably absent from this revised report is the rulemaking on brokered-freight transaction transparency by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which was previously included in the prior report.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), whose petition played a role in prompting the FMCSA to address broker transparency, expressed relatively little concern about the exclusion of this rulemaking from the updated report.
“Our understanding is that this is not unusual and that not all proposals go on these types of reports,” said Norita Taylor, OOIDA Director of Public Affairs. “We still are disappointed about the delay to October of this year and will continue to communicate all concerns about issues pertaining to brokers.”
The initial action item, responding to separate petitions from OOIDA and the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), aimed to enhance transparency in brokered freight transactions.
OOIDA’s petition urged the FMCSA to mandate brokers to automatically provide an electronic copy of each transaction record within 48 hours after the contractual service’s completion. It also sought to prohibit brokers from including clauses in contracts that would require motor carriers to waive their rights to access transaction records.
Similarly, SBTC requested that the FMCSA prohibit brokers from coercing parties to transactions to waive their right to review transaction records as a condition for doing business. SBTC also called for regulatory language specifying that brokers’ contracts should not include stipulations exempting brokers from complying with transparency requirements.
The FMCSA’s commitment to address these concerns through rulemaking was initially signaled almost a year ago in a letter to OOIDA, signed by then-FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson. Hutcheson recently announced her resignation from the post.
On the opposing side of the transparency issue, the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), representing brokers, has pledged to resist any proposal that would alter broker transparency regulations. TIA’s President and CEO, Anne Reinke, termed such changes as “rate intrusion,” warning that they could drive down rates. In the previous year, FMCSA rejected TIA’s 2020 petition seeking the removal of the 49 CFR 371.3(c) transparency regulation.
While FMCSA had initially set a timeline for the rule’s publication by Oct. 31, 2024, the absence of the rule from the updated report raises questions about its current status and potential publication timeline.
Source: Overdrive
