Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/815349
commercial carrier journal | april 2017 13 JOURNAL NEWS • The effective date of a rule establish- ing nationwide minimum training standards for entry-level truck drivers was delayed again due to ongoing regulatory review by President Trump and his staff. The rule now is set to take effect May 22, according to a Federal Register notice published March 21 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The rule originally was slated to take effect Feb. 6, with a compliance date of Feb. 7, 2020. That compliance date does not appear to be affected by the continuing delays in the rule's effective date. • FMCSA reopened the public com- ment period for a request made by several large carriers to allow them to drug-test driver applicants via hair sam- ple instead of a urine sample. FMCSA currently only accepts urine sample testing. The initial comment period for the carriers' request lasted 30 days until Feb. 21. In a Federal Register notice pub- lished Feb. 23, the agency extended the deadline to April 25. • The American Trucking Associations' first ATA Economic Summit is set for July 20 at the Westin Arlington Gateway in Arlington, Va. The event will bring together economists and trucking company managers for an outlook on the state of the economy and provide attendees with supply chain forecasts to help plan their fleets' futures. For more information, go to Trucking.org. • The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's annual 72-hour International Roadcheck inspection blitz will be held June 6-8 this year. The focus for this year's event is cargo securement. Last year's focus was on tire safety, and inspectors placed 9,080 trucks – 21.5 percent of trucks inspected – out of service, along with 1,436 drivers – 3.4 percent. • Daimler Trucks North America recalled about 450 model-year 2015-18 Western Star 4900 trucks manufactured between March 3, 2014, and Jan. 31, 2017, because of a problem with the service brakes. The trucks were built with certain triple-compartment alu- minum air tanks that could experience weld separation and lead to "a rapid loss of air pressure without warning," which could cause the sudden applica- tion of the parking brakes. INBRIEF 4/17 Trump's budget plan cuts infrastructure improvements P resident Trump unveiled an outline for his "America First"proposed budget for 2018, which cuts the U.S. Department of Transportation's funding by $2.4 bil- lion, or 13 percent. Trump's budget "blueprint," which details only discretionary funding proposals, requests $16.2 billion for DOT's budget. The cuts mostly affect air and mass transit transportation, but also include the elimination of funding forDOT's TIGER grants. TheTransportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program awards funds to states for resurfacing and other infrastructure improvements. The budget states the elimination of these grants will save $499 million when compared to the 2017 budget. It saysthe program, implemented in 2009, essentially duplicates a larger federal grant program. Trump's budget says DOT's Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects grant program,known as Fastlane grantsthat were authorized by the FAST Act highway bill in 2015, "supports larger highway and multimodal freight projects with demonstrable national or regional benefits." The full budget is set to be released later this spring. Trump says it will include "specific mandatory and tax proposals, as well as a full fiscal path." In a Feb. 28 address to Congress, Trump had asked legislators to produce and pass a $1 trillion spending package meant to "launch a national rebuilding" of the country's infrastructure, including funds for rebuilding U.S. highways. – Matt Cole Trump wants teams to target regulations for repeal, replacement P resident Trump in late February contin- uedhis pursuit of broad regulatory reform, using an Executive Order to target regulations that stifle job creation, impose unnec- essary costs or are simply outdated or ineffective. Trump's Executive Order directed all federal agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to establish teams to evaluate existing regula- tions and make recommendations about ones that need "repeal, replacement or modification." Nearly all federal agencies will be required to form a "Regulatory Reform Task Force" to be made up of senior agency officials and others. Trump also ordered federal agencies to appoint a so-called Regulatory Reform Officer within 60 days who would head each agency's regulatory task force and enforce other Trump orders targeting regulations. Agencies' task forces are required by the order to produce their first report on regulations within 90 days. This is the third executive action pertaining to existing regulations Trump has issued since assuming the presidency Jan. 20. In his first week, Trump signed a regulatory freeze halting federal agencies from publishing or enacting any new regu- lations for 60 days. Later, Trump signed an order telling federal agencies to remove two regulationsfor each new regulation enacted. That order already is facing a court challenge and logistical questions. – James Jaillet Talk of infrastructure spending was revived by President Trump after mentioning it little in the rst six weeks after taking o ce.