Broker transparency comments are in – what did the stakeholders say?

The 60-day comment period on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s broker transparency proposal has ended with nearly 5,000 comments submitted.

Now, the attention turns to what industry stakeholders had to say and how the agency may proceed.

The proposal

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.

A deeper dive into each of the broker transparency provisions can be found here.

The comment period ended Tuesday, Jan. 21. Numerous organizations filed comments on the proposal, as well as thousands of individual truckers. Below is a sampling of those comments.

OOIDA’s comments

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which petitioned FMCSA in 2020 to issue a rulemaking, is supportive of the proposal and would like the agency to take additional steps to ensure a level playing field for truckers.

“The deck is stacked against carriers in numerous ways, yet truckers persevere and deliver for the American people,” OOIDA wrote. “It’s time to level the playing field. It’s time to restore fairness in the freight market. It’s time to give small-business truckers a leg up. It’s time for broker transparency.”

OOIDA’s complete comments can be found here.

TIA’s comments

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In its formal comments, TIA called broker transparency regulations “outdated.”

“TIA strongly opposes this notice of proposed rulemaking,” the group wrote. “Simply put, FMCSA’s amplification of what is already an outdated, unnecessary and burdensome regulation is a solution in search of a problem. First, mandating so-called ‘broker transparency’ in the proposed fashion undermines competition and market efficiency, exposing confidential business data and associated strategies that drive innovation. Indeed, while the proposed rulemaking purportedly intends to address ‘risks that lead to market inefficiencies such as decreased capacity or decreased market competition,’ the proposed rule would achieve the opposite result and runs contrary to the original intent of the Interstate Commerce Commission in proposing the existing rule. Second, rather than doubling down on vestigial economic regulations, FMCSA should focus its efforts on addressing highway safety and addressing the proliferating fraud pandemic in the supply chain, which is costing the U.S. economy over $1 billion annually.”

The group also suggested that FMCSA was not authorized by Congress to propose the rulemaking, signaling a potential legal battle if a final rule is issued.

TIA’s complete comments can be found here.

ATA’s comments

The American Trucking Associations also opposed the broker transparency proposal, suggesting that it would create an “undue strain” on brokers.

“FMCSA’s proposal would attempt to enforce that brokers have a regulatory obligation to provide transaction records to the transacting parties on request and impose unrealistic time expectations,” the trucking group wrote. “ATA once again opposes these changes and urges FMCSA to reconsider such regulatory amendments to avoid compromising the ongoing competitiveness of the supply chain industry and overreaching beyond the agency’s purview. The proposed requirements would place an undue strain on brokers, who are an integral part of the supply chain, upon which many manufacturers, distributors and other shippers rely.”

ATA’s complete comments can be found here.

Individual truckers

James Gates is one of the thousands of truckers who supported the proposal, saying that it came down to basic fairness.

“Please support the broker transparency rules,” Gates wrote. “My small trucking business has been affected by shady broker scams. I’ve dealt with double brokering, which is commonplace in the industry. And scams are being run by thieves that broker out loads, and then the carrier never gets paid. Transparency rules would help my business by making freight rates more fair.”

What’s next?

Now that the comment period is over, the agency will be tasked with reviewing all of the comments before determining whether to move forward with a final rule and, if so, if any amendments to the proposal are needed.

President Donald Trump is expected to introduce fewer regulations during his administration. However, the effort to improve broker transparency roots back to Trump’s first term in office.

Truckers traveled to Washington, D.C., in May 2020 to protest against historically low freight rates and the lack of transparency in broker transactions. The protest lasted weeks, with an estimated 60 to 110 trucks participating each day.

The protest caught Trump’s attention – enough so that he posted about it on social media and discussed it with Fox News.

“I’m with the TRUCKERS all the way,” Trump posted on Twitter on May 3, 2020. “Thanks for the meeting at the White House with my representatives from the Administration. It is all going to work out well!”

Less than a week later, Trump told “Fox & Friends” that truck drivers were being “price gouged.”

“They’re like the farmers,” Trump said. “All they want is to be treated fairly, and we’re going to treat them fairly. What they’re asking for is almost nothing in many cases.”

Now, it will be up to the Trump administration – which is in the process of establishing leadership at the Department of Transportation and FMCSA – to determine if it will issue a final rule.

“This rulemaking is unfinished business for the Trump administration,” Collin Long, OOIDA’s director of government affairs, said in December. “They started this process back in 2020, and we hope they consider finalizing this rule and continuing to work with OOIDA to make broker transparency a top priority on Day 1.” LL