The trucking industry group Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is encouraging truckers across the country to write letters to federal regulators supporting a proposed rule that would require freight brokers to practice better transparency in freight transactions.
Stakeholders have just five more weeks to submit their opinions to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) before the agency’s public comment period ends on January 21, 2025.
That comes after the agency published a “notice of proposed rulemaking” in November. The proposed regulation titled “Transparency in Property Broker Transactions” would address what FMCSA calls a lack of access to information among shippers and motor carriers. As a solution, it would require brokers to keep electronic records, and to provide transaction records to motor carriers and shippers upon request.
As times runs out for parties to comment on the potential rule, OOIDA president Todd Spencer has come out firmly in support of the change. “To the shady freight brokers: You’ve skirted federal regulations to take advantage of the hardworking men and women behind the wheel for too long and it’s far past time this era of screwing over truckers comes to an end,” Spencer said in a statement. “To the American trucker: Now is your chance to hold bad brokers accountable. Jump into the arena and demand action from FMCSA. No more sitting on the sidelines complaining. If you speak up, we’ll win this fight.”
On the other side of the fight is the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), an industry group representing the third-party logistics (3PL) industry, which has called the potential rule “misguided overreach” that fails to address the more pressing issue of freight fraud.
But other interests say the potential rule doesn’t go far enough. According to transportation attorney Clay Robbins III with Los Angeles law firm Wisner Baum, federal regulators should go further and impose requirements for brokers to more extensively vet shippers, helping to better determine liability in truck crashes. “Transparency is good, but federal regulators should require freight brokers to meaningfully vet the competency, safety programs and experience of the carriers they hire for others,” Robbins said in a statement. “A lot of brokers only check to see if a carrier has a Motor Carrier number, perhaps a ‘satisfactory’ or ‘no’ safety rating – as opposed to an ‘unsatisfactory’ safety rating – and insurance coverage of at least $750,000. However, all brokers should thoroughly vet carriers by looking into their accident history, record of violations, how long they have been in business, and whether they are a ‘chameleon’ company that is trying to cover its tracks after prior safety incidents by stopping and restarting operations. Hopefully, the FMCSA will follow up their proposal for increased broker transparency with regulations to require brokers to do more to vet carriers.”
