In The News

Truckers agree Administration’s deregulation policies would drive economic growth

Grain Valley, Mo.) The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the nation’s only organization that represents small-business truckers, supports the Administration’s continued push to reduce regulations.
 
“We agree with the White House’s statement that burdensome regulations have an immense impact on small businesses,” said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA. “In particular, the trucking industry, which is primarily made up of small businesses, is potentially harmed the most.   
 
A recent announcement from the Administration said that it is crucial to separate the intention of regulations from their actual impact on the economy and that excessive regulations have unnecessary costs with few benefits.
 
The timing of the announcement comes at the heels of a recent coalition push to delay an electronic logging device mandate on trucks as well as recent demonstrations by truck drivers in Washington, DC. OOIDA and 30 other organizations spoke out against the ELD mandate and a group of truck drivers shared their concerns this week about ELDs with lawmakers.
 
“The ELD mandate is estimated to cost impacted stakeholders more than $2 billion, making it one of the most expensive federal transportation rulemakings over the last decade,” said Spencer. “This is a massive, unfunded mandate that provides no safety, economic, or productivity benefits for most ensnared by the mandate.  That is just one example of a costly policy that truckers contend with that has no bearing on safety.”
 
OOIDA has long held that there are many regulations that are proposed or put in place in the name of safety but have little or no effect in improving highway safety.
 
The Administration said that small businesses disproportionately bear the cost of complying with regulations and that rather than encouraging business development and investment, excessive regulation discourages small-business growth through the higher burden of regulation.
 
 
“A healthy sector of small-business trucking is good for the economy and good for consumers and should be given tools to grow, not be squashed by big business interests that push for more and more regulations that increase costs for their small-business competitors,” said Spencer.
 
A Notice for Regulatory Review was published inviting the public to provide input on existing rules and other agency actions that are good candidates for repeal, replacement, suspension, or modification.” -  https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/10/02/2017-21101/notification-of-regulatory-review
 
In keeping with OOIDA’s Knock Out Bad Regs campaign, OOIDA encourages members to go to the link and share their concerns about all trucking regulations.
 
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the only national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association currently has more than 158,000 members nationwide. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the Greater Kansas City, Mo., area.