Power in numbers

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and its staff in Washington, D.C., will be putting in all of its effort to prevent a measure to increase the minimum insurance requirement for motor carriers from finding its way in the next highway bill.

But this is a fight that will require more voices than OOIDA’s staff members working in D.C. and Grain Valley, Mo.

In order to stop a possible 167% hike to the minimum insurance requirement from becoming a reality, OOIDA needs its more than 150,000 members and all truckers who would be negatively affected by this to step up and make sure their voices are heard.

“Preventing Congress from increasing motor carriers’ minimum insurance requirements is shaping up to be our biggest battle this year,” said Collin Long, OOIDA’s director of government affairs. “We’re talking Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan. And we’re going to need every Hulkamaniac who makes their living behind the wheel to get involved.

“We know this battle is winnable, but we can’t do it without a groundswell of support from truckers. If you’re not picking up the phone and calling your member of Congress to demand they oppose any increase, you’re handicapping our efforts. I’m not blowing smoke when I say it’s going to take every trucker with a stake in the game to stop this from happening. Get on the phone today.”

The battle

Last year, Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., proposed an amendment to the INVEST in America Act that called for the minimum insurance requirement on motor carriers to be increased from $750,000 to $2 million.

OOIDA immediately called the amendment a “poison pill” and withdrew its support from the highway bill.

The House still voted in favor of the amendment. Ultimately, the bill stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate. However, the fight will be more difficult this time. With the Democrats now controlling both chambers of Congress, it is likely another minimum insurance increase proposal could sneak into a larger transportation package.

Even more worrisome, some lawmakers want the increase to be much greater than 167%. Garcia introduced a standalone bill in 2019 that would have boosted the minimum insurance requirement all the way up to a startling $4.92 million.

What OOIDA is doing

OOIDA is doing what it can to get ahead of the fight by making it clear how such a proposal would damage small-business truckers.

Testifying in front of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 4, OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh told lawmakers that a 167% increase would have a “catastrophic” effect on small-business truckers and put many of the industry’s safest drivers out of business.

“We estimate that if Congress increased minimum coverage requirements to $2 million as this Committee did in last year’s (highway bill), premium costs for small-business truckers could at least double, causing a trucker who currently pays $10,000 per year to pay a whopping $20,000,” Pugh said in submitted testimony. “This would be unaffordable to many small businesses, who would quickly be driven out of business. For other carriers that try to offset the new costs by increasing their rates, they would likely lose business to better-leveraged large fleets.”

OOIDA also formed a coalition with more than 60 organizations to oppose an increase. Numerous state and regional trucking associations, agricultural associations and various industry groups united to show how many businesses and workers the measure would negatively affect.

“Our organizations strongly discourage you from including any increase in the existing minimum liability coverage for motor carriers,” the coalition wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Feb. 1. “An increase in insurance requirements is wholly unnecessary, would do nothing to improve highway safety and would have a severe negative impact on truckers, farmers, and manufacturers by significantly increasing their operational costs.”

What you can do

Lobbyists for OOIDA and other organizations can talk all day about the negative ramifications from a bill like this going into effect. But calls and letters from the individuals who will be negatively affected to their elected officials carry a lot more weight.

OOIDA suggests a checklist of what truckers can do over the next month or so to help stop a minimum insurance increase from happening.

• Write a letter to your representative.
• Call your representative and ask to speak with the transportation staffer.
• Follow up to see if the office can provide any insight on the representative’s position.
• If unclear, ask to schedule a call with the representative during the next district work period.
• Talk to your friends in the industry and make sure they also are communicating with their elected officials.
• Rinse and repeat as needed.

In order to provide lawmakers insight on why a minimum insurance increase is not needed, OOIDA says to point out that there is no research that indicates boosting the cost of insurance will improve safety, how an increase will take many of the nation’s safest drivers off the road, and point to an FMCSA-commissioned study that found only 0.6% of crashes result in damages that exceed the current minimum coverage limits.

For more information on talking points and how to reach your lawmakers, check out FightingForTruckers.com and refer to the February issue of Land Line Magazine, which includes your Political Playbook.

Most importantly, OOIDA says to provide lawmakers your personal story. Let them know how insurance premiums are already increasing without Congress getting involved. Tell them how possibly doubling your premiums would affect your business. Let them know if it would force you to defer routine maintenance or equipment upgrades. Let them know if such an increase could jeopardize your business entirely.

OOIDA will do everything in its power to stop the increase, but the Association understands that its true power is in the individual voices of truck drivers across the nation.

Iconic football coach Vince Lombardi may have said it best.

“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.” LL