What the Cargo? Updated CSA and Other Regulations
| December 9, 2015 | CSA, FAST Act, FMCSA, Government, The Highway Bill, Truckers, Trucking Nation, Veterans | No Comments
Trucking Nation, say goodbye to CSA and hello to other regulations! Now before you shoot the messenger, we’re just here to help you get back to driving instead of worrying about what Congress is enacting now.
Congress, per usual, has once again changed the regulations for the trucking industry. And of course, the regulations have to come packaged in the most confusing set of words we’ve ever seen. So, to make the overtly confusing legislation more applicable for actual humans, we decided to tell you about all the update regulations changes ourselves. Well, we attempted to anyways—Congress sure does enjoy making stuff unnecessarily difficult. I mean the bill is about 1,300 pages long.
FAST Act—The Highway Bill That Slashed the CSA
First and foremost, the FAST Act, as it was ironically dubbed, rid the trucking industry of the DOT’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability—you know it as CSA. The FAST Act lets carriers hide their percentile ranking from public view, and it also requires the FMCSA to identify the program’s fault. So basically, the CSA program is sleeping until FMCSA can implement a “corrective action plan.” Great win for the trucking industry!
Here’s a quick look at what else changed with the updated bill:
What’s Out:
- 21 and Under- The bill requires the FMCSA to study 18-to-21-year-old CDL holders who are former members of the military or reserves. This comes in discussion of allowing these truckers to drive in interstate commerce.
- Size/Weight- No mention of truck size and weight standards made it into the discussion of the bill, although some lawmakers allegedly pushed for raising the minimum requirements.
- Tolls- The original bill called for tolling on some existing interstate lanes and for the money to be used outside the interstate system, but that didn’t make it in this updated version.
Response to the New Bill
Trucking Nation responded with praise towards the new bill—finally, lawmakers got something right. As for FMSCA? Well, let’s just say they were less than thrilled to hear the news. They complied with the new bill, removed the CSA Safety Measurement System, and issued the following statement:
“As of December 4, 2015, pursuant to the FAST Act of 2015, much of the information previously available on [FMCSA] website related to property carriers’ compliance and safety performance will no longer be displayed publicly.”
OK, that part didn’t sound too harsh, until FMCSA went on further to emphasize that is it not “prohibited from displaying all of the data,” specifically when it comes to inspection and violation data. How sneaky!
So what’s next for these new regulations? Well as of right now, it passed the U.S. Senate by a whopping 83-16 vote late on Thursday, December 3rd. Now it’s waiting for Mr. President to put his signature on it before it becomes an actual piece of legislation. We would ask how long one piece of legislation takes to sign but asking is pretty futile when it comes to the bigwigs of government. Anyways truckers, get ready for some new regulations but an overall improvement on the roadways.
For more exciting news on all things trucking be sure to stay tuned to TruckLogics. We’re on your side 24/7 and will always be here to make driving the roadways a little easier. Until next time, this has been TruckLogics—over and out!
