Trucking History – December 2022/January 2023
Dec. 17, 2019
OOIDA provides a video tutorial on FMCSA’s new Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which was established after a December 2016 final rule as mandated by Congress in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act.
The Clearinghouse is a secure online database allowing FMCSA, commercial motor vehicle employers, state driver’s licensing agencies, and law enforcement officials to quickly identify CDL holders who have violated federal drug and alcohol testing requirements.
The final rule did not change any of the existing Department of Transportation’s drug and alcohol requirements.
January 2018
OOIDA reaches a settlement for $44.4 million to be repaid to truckers who were charged unconstitutionally discriminatory registration and decal fees in the state of New York.
In October 2013, OOIDA filed a lawsuit challenging these fees against out-of-state truckers who paid them in order to do business in New York. These taxes resulted in a higher per-mile tax rate being imposed on out-of-state trucks, which violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, the lawsuit said.
The court agreed and made its ruling without a trial.
Under the court’s original order, carriers were required to complete the pass-through process by Jan. 7.
On July 7, 2017, more than 100,000 tax refund checks were sent to truckers and carriers who were members of a class action lawsuit. The settlement covered a four-year statute of limitations from June 1, 2009, through March 8, 2016.
Dec. 2, 2005
A federal appeals court rules FMCSA’s driver-training rule is “patently illogical.”
OOIDA, along with two safety advocate groups, filed a lawsuit against FMCSA in 2004, saying the rule in question does not require any training behind the wheel.
Then-OOIDA President and CEO Jim Johnston said, “We want a comprehensive driver training program that teaches guys to drive the types of vehicles they will be driving on the road. I would also like to see an apprentice program.”
At the time of the ruling, the court did not give FMCSA a deadline or schedule for rewriting the driver-training rule.
Jan. 6, 1984
“Roll on” (Eighteen Wheeler) is released by the band Alabama. It was the country music group’s 12th straight No. 1 single on the Billboard magazine hot country singles chart.
The song details the story of a trucker who drives over the road to support his wife and three children. Several versions of the song have been recorded, including by Randy Parton and David Allen Coe. LL