A long-awaited proposal aimed at improving broker transparency is expected to be released this fall.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Spring 2024 Unified Regulatory Agenda, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is still targeting October to unveil its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding transparency in property broker transactions.
The rulemaking was prompted by a petition from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association in 2020.
• To require brokers to automatically provide an electronic copy of each transaction record within 48 hours after the contractual service has been completed
• To explicitly prohibit brokers from including any provision that requires carriers to waive their rights to access the transaction records
Regulation CFR 371.3 already requires that brokers keep records of each transaction with a carrier and that each party to the transaction has a right to view these records. OOIDA asked the agency to begin enforcing that regulation and to eliminate any loopholes allowing brokers to sidestep the rule. The Small Business in Transportation Coalition also petitioned the agency.
“Motor carriers are victimized through unpaid claims, unpaid loads, double-brokered loads or load-phishing schemes on a daily basis,” OOIDA wrote. “If broker transparency regulations and enforcement can be improved, then disputes between motor carriers and sureties will be reduced, there will be less need for litigation, less need for FMCSA intervention and the economic health of the broker/motor carrier component of the transportation industry will be stronger.”
The agency granted the petition in March 2023 and first targeted June 2023 to release a proposal. Last year, however, FMCSA changed the target date to October.
“FMCSA remains committed to initiating a rulemaking in 2024 concerning broker transparency,” Cicely Waters, FMCSA’s communication director, said in January.
Considering the amount of broker fraud in the industry, OOIDA continues its calls for FMCSA to act as soon as possible.
“We are anxiously awaiting the transparency proposal, as broker concerns remain a top issue for OOIDA members,” Jay Grimes, OOIDA’s director of federal affairs,” said earlier this year. “The sooner, the better.”
The DOT agenda also revealed that FMCSA plans to release its proposal to require speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles in May 2025.
The announcement marks another delay for the controversial rulemaking. Previous agency projections for the proposal’s release included June 2023, December 2023 and May 2024.
Check back to Land Line for additional stories on the DOT’s latest regulatory agenda. LL…Read more by Mark Schremmer
