Regulatory agenda provides truckers peek into future

The current administration has promised fewer regulations, but that doesn’t mean the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and other agencies don’t have things in the works.

The latest version of the Unified Regulatory Agenda reveals the latest on what the Trump administration has planned for potential trucking regs regarding independent contractor status, broker transparency, automatic emergency brakes, electronic logging devices and connected vehicles.

Broker transparency

Truckers who have been waiting for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to implement strengthened broker transparency regulations will likely be waiting for a while longer.

Instead of moving forward with a final rule, FMCSA’s regulatory agenda indicated that the agency plans to issue a second notice of proposed rulemaking in May 2026. Although it is unclear what the updated notice will propose, the timeline means that it could be 2027 or later before a final rule takes effect.

The lack of broker transparency in the trucking industry has been a longstanding issue, but it entered the national spotlight when truck drivers protested in Washington, D.C., in May 2020. Around that same time, OOIDA petitioned the agency to strengthen existing broker transparency rules.

Regulation 371.3 requires brokers to keep records of each transaction. Even more, each party to an individual transaction has the right to review the record. However, many brokers get around the regulation by requiring carriers to waive that right.

Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, FMCSA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding broker transparency. That comment period ended in March with about 6,900 comments submitted. Truckers argued that broker transparency would promote fairness, while brokers argued that the regulations are outdated and “un-American.”

Now, it appears the agency plans to tweak the previous proposal.

Automatic emergency brakes

While truckers may be frustrated with FMCSA’s decision to prolong the broker transparency rulemaking, many of them will likely applaud a similar move regarding a potential automatic emergency braking system mandate.

FMCSA issued a proposal in 2023 to require automatic emergency brakes on heavy-duty vehicles.

The heavy vehicle proposal called for all Class 7 and 8 vehicles – those weighing more than 26,000 pounds – to be required to meet the AEB standards three years after the rule takes effect. All Class 3 to 6 vehicles – those weighing 10,001 to 26,000 pounds – would be required to meet the AEB and electronic stability control requirements in four years. Small-volume manufacturers would have until five years after the final rule took effect. There would not be any retrofit requirements on existing heavy vehicles.

A final rule had been expected early in 2025, but the latest regulatory agenda indicates that FMCSA plans to go back to the drawing board and issue a second notice of proposed rulemaking in December.

Many truck drivers are opposed to a mandate and have cited problems with the technology, including false activations.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into reports of automatic emergency brake false activations in May 2023. There were 18 complaints of false AEB activation “without an actual roadway obstacle.” In some instances, the false activation brought the truck to a complete stop in the travel lane. That investigation remains open.

Now, the trucking industry will have to wait until late 2025 or early 2026 to see an updated proposal regarding automatic emergency brakes.

ELDs

In 2022, FMCSA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that considered revisions to existing regulations for electronic logging devices.

The regulatory agenda indicates the agency plans to unveil a formal proposal in May 2026.

FMCSA’s 2022 notice considered changes to the ELD mandate regarding the applicability to pre-2000 engines, addressing ELD malfunctions, self-certification, technical specifications and the removal of an ELD from the registry.

OOIDA, which adamantly opposed an ELD mandate in the first place, told FMCSA that there is no justification for ending the exemption for trucks with pre-2000 engines.

“The agency lacks data confirming the ELD mandate has improved highway safety and has failed to demonstrate how the expansion of existing requirements to vehicles operating on pre-2000 and rebuilt pre-2000 engines would enhance safety,” the Association wrote in 2022. “OOIDA is unaware of any research that demonstrates vehicles operating under the pre-2000 exemption fail to meet the same level of safety as vehicles with ELDs.”

The Association also wants FMCSA to stop allowing ELD companies to self-certify.

“Since Congress forced truckers to comply with this mandate, you must now compel FMCSA to implement a long-overdue certification process that prevents non-compliant devices from entering the market in the first place,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh told lawmakers at a House hearing in March. “Furthermore, Congress must impose a ban on technology from hostile nations like Russia and China being utilized in ELDs that track American truckers.”

Sometime next year, the trucking industry should know how FMCSA plans to move forward with the previous administration’s rulemaking. LL