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June
8, 2004
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Headline
News
Get Answers to Your Questions On Entry-Level Driver Training
TCA recently
received a copy of some frequently asked questions highlighting the
key requirements of the entry-level driver training final rule issued
by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on May 21,
2004. The summary was received from Mr. Paul O’Neill, of Motor
Carrier Safety Services, International, in Clifton Park, NY. By way
of reminder, in the final rule, the FMCSA is requiring entry-level drivers
to receive training in the following four areas:
1) driver qualification
requirements
2) hours of service of drivers
3) driver wellness; and
4) whistle blower protection.
The agency estimates
the four areas will require an additional combined 10 hours of training.
Click
here to view the entry-level driver training final rule FAQs.
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FMCSA
Makes Important SafeStat Announcement
Over the Holiday
weekend, an important announcement was made by the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA) regarding their SafeStat system. In an
"Op-Ed" piece published in the May 31, 2004 issue of Transport
Topics, FMCSA Administrator Annette Sandberg made an announcement that
the agency is going to restrict access to some of the SafeStat data
in response to the February 13, 2004 report of the Office of Inspector
General (OIG). "By the end of this summer, we will temporarily
remove the accident Safety Evaluation Area (SEA) and the overall SafeStat
scores from the Website”, Sandberg wrote. The FMCSA will remove
these scores sometime later this Summer when the system programming
changes are made. The agency also said it would make changes in the
way it collects and analyzes safety data in response to the OIG report,
who criticized the FMCSA’s SafeStat program for problems with
the timeliness and accuracy of the data.
With the new system,
although the FMCSA would remove the SafeStat scores from its Website,
"carriers will be able to access their own accident SEA and overall
SafeStat scores through their standard company safety profiles, sustaining
their ability to conduct self-assessments of their safety performance,"
according to David Longo, an agency spokesman. In addition, on Friday
of last week, the FMCSA placed a color-coded United States map on its
SafeStat Website reflecting how each of the 50 states are coded for
safety data quality. This map can be accessed at the following link:
http://ai.volpe.dot.gov/SafeStat/staterating.asp.
TCA will be participating
in a conference call with the ATA this week on this “key”
issue, so as further developments and information are forthcoming we
will keep everyone apprised. For further questions or additional information,
contact Rich Clemente at (703) 883-8847 or email: rclemente@truckload.org.
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Finalization
of Highway Bill To Begin, All Conferees Appointed
Late last week,
the House appointed 52 conferees, comprised of 31 Republicans and 20
Democrats, to the transportation reauthorization bill (H.R. 3550 and
S. 1072). These conferees represent the following committees: House
Transportation and Infrastructure, Budget, Education and the Workforce,
Energy and Commerce, Government Reform, Judiciary, Resources, Rules,
Science and Ways and Means. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) was
also named a “roving” conferee who can sit in on all negotiations.
These House conferees join the 21 Senate conferees who were named last
month. These individuals represent the Senate Environment and Public
Works, Senate Finance, Senate Budget, Senate Banking, and Senate Commerce
committees. The Senate group also has the leadership representation
in Senators Mitch McConnell and Tom Daschle.
By way of reminder,
the House has approved a $283.2 billion measure and the Senate has passed
a $318.9 billion package. The White House has threatened to veto any
bill that exceeds the $256 billion. The primary obstacle to date in
moving a multi-year measure has centered over differences between the
White House and Congress over how much money should be allocated over
the six-year length of the bill. The White House wants to “cap”
spending at the $256 billion limit. The third and latest extension of
the TEA-21 Highway Bill is set to expire on June 30, 2004.
For a copy of the
latest summary chart of the “key” provisions of both the
House and Senate versions of the bills click
here. For a list of the House conferees click
here.
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FDA
Issues Rule on Food Considered To Present A Health Threat
The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) issued a final rule in the June 4, Federal
Register establishing procedures for administrative detention of
food under the authority of the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 (Section 303).
This new authority applies to food for which the agency has credible
evidence of information that it presents a threat of serious adverse
health consequences or death to humans or animals. The effective date
of this final rule is July 6, 2004.
Under the final
rule, the FDA may detain an article of food on the strength of credible
evidence or information resulting from an inspection, examination, or
investigation. The rule requires a detention order to be approved by
the FDA District Director of the district where the detained article
of food is located, or by a higher official. A copy of the detention
order would be given to the owner, operator, and/or agent in charge
of the place where the article of food is located, and to the owner
of the food provided the owner’s identity can be determined readily.
If FDA issues a detention order for an article of food located in a
vehicle or other carrier, the agency also must provide a copy of the
detention order to the shipper of record and the owner and operator
of the vehicle or other carrier provided the owner’s identity
could be determined readily.
In addition, the
final rule requires detained articles of food to be held in secure locations,
as determined by FDA. The food may not be transferred from the place
where it has been ordered detained, or from the place where the detained
article has been removed without FDA approval, until FDA terminates
the detention order, or the detention period expires. A detention may
not exceed 30 days, and violation of a detention order is a prohibited
act.
The FDA also announced
that it will very shortly issue a final rule (Section 306 –Recordkeeeping)
which will cover the establishment and maintenance of records to allow
for the identification of immediate previous sources and immediate subsequent
recipients of food to assist the agency in tracking food implicated
in future emergencies. The other two “key” sections of the
Act -- Registration of Food Facilities (Section 305) and Prior Notice
of Imported Food Shipments (Section 307) have already been issued in
final rule form. Trucking companies, trucks and truck terminals
do not have to register under these regulations.
A copy of the June
4, 2004, Register notice final rule on Administrative Detention
can be downloaded by clicking here for an HTML
and here for a PDF
. For more information please contact Rich Clemente at (703)
838-8847 or email: rclemente@truckload.org.
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Legislative
Update on Roadability of Intermodal Chassis
Approximately two
weeks ago, a New Jersey Assembly panel heard testimony on legislation
intended to improve the quality of the truck chassis being distributed
at ports in the state.
The New Jersey legislation
would require all chassis to be inspected before they are assigned to
drivers. All unsafe chassis would have to be “red-tagged”
and quarantined. Maintenance and inspection records would have to be
made available to industry parties, the state police and the Transportation
Department, and state law-enforcement officials would be permitted to
enter port terminals to check on inspection and maintenance. The bills
would force the owner of a chassis to be responsible for the proper
maintenance of the equipment, as that burden is currently placed on
the truck drivers. It is also worth noting, that truckers forced to
wait in line at the port to load or unload are the subject of one other
bill. A 1483 would prohibit ports from making a truck wait longer than
30 minutes before beginning loading or off-loading container cargo at
a terminal. Violators would be subject to fines as much as $750 per
occurrence.
On a Federal level,
in January of this year, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta announced
in a press release that the U.S. DOT would launch a safety inspection
program for intermodal container chassis. This new inspection program
will be modeled on the compliance review program already in place for
the motor carrier industry. Chassis providers will be required to obtain
a USDOT number and display it on their chassis so that the data could
be captured. The DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA) will apply the same penalty structure and enforcement actions
for equipment, including issuing out-of-service (OOS) orders and revoking
USDOT numbers when needed. To date, however, no federal proposal on
this Mineta announcement has been formally published in the Federal
Register. There are also two pending pieces of legislation, H.R.
2863, the Intermodal Equipment Safety and Responsibility Act of 2003,
introduced by Representatives Henry Brown (R-SC) and Richard Baker (R-LA),
and on the Senate side, S. 1776, a companion bill introduced by Senator
Ben “Nighthorse” Campbell (R-CO).
We will keep you
posted on further developments with this important issue known as “Roadability”
as they occur, and if you have questions or comments, please call Rich
Clemente at (703) 838-8847 or email: rclemente@truckload.org.
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