For the ninth year, members of the Arkansas Trucking Association are in Washington, D.C., to talk face-to-face with legislators about the top issues the industry is facing.
"It is a priority every year for us to make a trip to D.C. to have our members get some in-person contact with our representatives and talk about the big issues that are important to our industry," said Shannon Newton, president of the association.
Sixteen members and, for the first time, two professional drivers from the Arkansas Road Team outreach program met with the Arkansas delegation on Wednesday to do just that. Companies represented include FedEx Freight, Star Transportation, Dedicated Logistics and YRC Freight.
Newton said one of the main issues to discuss this year involves enacting federal legislation that would prevent states from passing their own legislation related to compensation for motor carrier employees.
"That clarification is needed to ensure that motor carriers can continue to operate efficiently and competitively throughout the country," Newton said. "Currently there are a few states in different regions that are implementing state-specific statutes governing driver hours and pay practices."
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, a Hot Springs Republican who serves on the House Transportation Committee, said the visit was important.
"Trucking is a huge business in Arkansas," he said. "Arkansas, I guess because of our central location in the country, has been a place for trucking companies to thrive."
Because trucking is interstate commerce, it's the federal government's job to regulate it, Westerman said.
"If you've got over-the-road truckers crossing several states and you've got different rules in every state, it makes it almost impossible for them to keep up with everything and carry on business in a normal fashion," he said.
Several states have passed laws related to compensation for overtime, drivers' federally mandated truck inspections, and meal and rest breaks. Last fall, a federal court in California ruled that Wal-Mart was liable for $54 million in back pay to truck drivers under the state laws.
Newton said that from the motor carrier perspective, "when you have drivers traveling across state lines and sometimes country lines, it is not feasible for a company to adhere to different pay policies as their drivers drive from one state to another."
Others in the industry disagree.
"We think a driver's time should be valued and so we oppose any legislation that has the potential to limit the amount or manner in which truck drivers are compensated," said Norita Taylor, spokesman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Justin Swidler is an employment and discrimination lawyer who has represented drivers in many lawsuits related to the wage and hour policies of trucking companies. "This is the first time that I'm aware of where federal law is trying to trump state wage and hour laws for a specific occupation," he said of the proposal.
"They are doing it under this idea that, 'We can't have a patchwork of laws. It's too confusing,'" he said. "Any major corporation that operates in multiple states has to deal with this. There is no reason that I can fathom why trucking should be exempt from that, especially considering how the industry has treated its drivers to date."
"They would change the ability to assert violations of state law when the state law gives you a benefit beyond what you would get under a federal counterpart," he said. "It's concerning."
The second major issue association members have on their agenda in the nation's capital, Newton said, is transportation infrastructure.
"Everyone is familiar with the big numbers and bold promises of the [Donald] Trump campaign with regard to the $1 trillion infrastructure program he has touted," she said.
"That is obviously something that we are interested in and something that would be viewed favorably by our industry. So we want to be part of that conversation as the country figures out how to support long-term, stable, sustainable funding for the federal highway program."
This week, the White House released its fiscal 2018 budget request that included $200 billion over 10 years for infrastructure investment and said it would reach its planned $1 trillion through "a combination of new Federal funding, incentivized non-Federal funding, and newly prioritized and expedited projects."
While the trucking association has been working on this at the state level, Newton pointed out that federal dollars for national infrastructure outpace state dollars 3-to-1. "It's important at the state level, but it is critical at the federal level," she said.
Other secondary issues to discuss include regulatory and tax reform as well as autonomous vehicles, an issue that has received a lot of attention recently. Newton said the industry is in favor of the new technology but that "we want to be part of the discussion that shapes the policy."
The group met with all six members of the state delegation, Newton said. On Wednesday evening, there was also a reception at the American Trucking Associations' building on Capitol Hill.
Information for this article was contributed by Frank E. Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Business on 05/25/2017