Winning requires trucker engagement
In Washington, D.C., OOIDA has been working feverishly to advance legislation and regulations that improve conditions for small business truckers and professional drivers. In fact, we’ve never been closer to delivering several major accomplishments for truckers.
Let’s take a quick look at how close we are:
- Truck parking legislation has passed the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and is awaiting consideration on the House floor, while the companion bill in the Senate continues to gain new influential supporters, inching closer to an important vote in the Environment & Public Works Committee.
- Our bills to prevent FMCSA from imposing its widely unpopular and unsafe speed limiter proposal are getting more and more attention from lawmakers, as an increasing number of industries share concerns about many of the unintended consequences and hazards associated with the mandate that federal regulators are ignoring.
- Legislation championed by OOIDA to improve restroom access for truckers has garnered critical new industry support and is well-positioned to advance in 2024 under the leadership of extremely motivated Republican and Democrat sponsors.
- Bipartisan and bicameral bills to remove the federal overtime exemption for employee drivers have been reintroduced and are sparking a fresh conversation about driver working conditions and compensation.
- And FMCSA is moving forward with a rulemaking to address OOIDA’s petition to improve broker transparency and accountability – one of several ways we’re trying to help crack down on freight fraud.
While momentum is on our side for each of these priorities heading into 2024, there is still one vital element missing from each battle – widespread driver engagement.
I’ll frame the situation again for the folks in the back: OOIDA has more than 150,000 members, yet only a small percentage ever pick up the phone to call their representatives in Washington or submit comments on an open rulemaking, some of which would fundamentally change the trucking industry – and not for the better.
Let’s consider the current speed limiter rulemaking for a moment. About 15,000 drivers, including several thousand OOIDA members, submitted comments opposing the proposed mandate. While this relatively strong level of opposition certainly slowed the agency’s consideration, it wasn’t significant enough to derail the rulemaking process. Now, imagine how difficult it would be for D.C. bureaucrats to continue to advance this bone-headed proposal if 30%, 40% or 50% of OOIDA members alone voiced their opposition. If 15,000 comments can gum up the works, 75,000 would make it nearly impossible for the agency to continue. And consider what effect this outpouring would have on our efforts to pass legislation that would stop the agency in its tracks. Seventy-five thousands calls to lawmakers would supercharge support for our bills in both chambers.
And I’m not asking you to spend a significant amount of time, energy or resources to ensure your voice is heard. Responding to an OOIDA Call to Action takes a matter of seconds. I know because I’ve done it many times myself. Finding ways to contact legislators and send comments through OOIDA’s FightingForTruckers.com also has never been easier.
If trucker engagement on both the legislative and regulatory fronts were more widespread, some of the battles listed above would already be won, and we’d be moving forward with addressing other issues that matter most to drivers.
I apologize if you’re sick of hearing me say it, but there’s an easy way to never see this statement again: Engage in both the federal legislative and regulatory processes! LL