Broker transparency comment period to reopen

Truckers who missed the opportunity to voice their opinions about a proposal to improve broker transparency will soon have another chance.

In a notice that is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it will reopen the comment period for another 30 days.

In November 2024, FMCSA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that aims to strengthen existing broker transparency regulations. These regulations have been on the books since the 1980s but are often not enforced.

FMCSA’s broker transparency proposal includes four main provisions:

• It requires brokers to keep their records in an electronic format.
• It requires that records contain information about charges and payments connected to the shipment, including a description, amount and dates, as well as any claims connected to the shipment.
• It affirms that brokers have a regulatory obligation to provide transaction records.
• It requires brokers to provide an electronic copy of records within 48 hours after a carrier makes a request.

The initial proposal prompted a 60-day comment period that ended Jan. 21. According to the Regulations.gov website, FMCSA received more than 4,800 comments.

That number will now increase, as the public has been given another month to weigh in on FMCSA’s proposal. The new comment period is scheduled to run through March 20.

Reopening the broker transparency comment period

On Jan. 19, the Small Business in Transportation Coalition requested that FMCSA extend the comment period between 14 and 30 days due to the level of public interest in the topic of broker transparency.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and SBTC petitioned the agency in 2020 to launch a rulemaking on broker transparency. Both organizations requested that FMCSA prevent brokers from asking carriers to waive their rights to access the transaction records.

“Other potential commenters to the notice of proposed rulemaking may benefit from an extension as well,” FMCSA wrote in the notice.

The agency said it will consider all comments received by the Jan. 21 deadline as well as the new comments before determining whether it will move forward with a final rule.

Once the comment period is reopened on Feb. 18, the public can comment at the Fighting For Truckers website or by going to Regulations.gov and entering Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0257-0001.

Previous comments

On Jan. 21, OOIDA filed its comments in support of the proposal while also asking the agency to strengthen it further.

“OOIDA has long pushed for greater transparency in transactions with brokers and supports FMCSA’s initiative to bring overdue improvements to broker regulations,” the Association wrote in comments signed by President Todd Spencer. “OOIDA supports the notice of proposed rulemaking’s intent along with many of its technical provisions. However, FMCSA must strengthen the rulemaking by clarifying how they will enforce the rules and closing all loopholes that let brokers waive transparency rights.”

The Transportation Intermediaries Association opposes the proposal and previously petitioned FMCSA to remove existing broker transparency regulations.

In its formal comments, TIA called broker transparency regulations “outdated.”

Thousands of individual truckers also submitted comments. Many of them supported the proposal and asked for basic fairness. LL