Regular readers will remember the House’s version of the highway bill for its inclusion of language that could have been something of “poison pill” for carriers currently not rated (as well as those rated Conditional) in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety rating system. The worry was that by excluding unrated carriers from the mix of those deemed OK for brokers and other parties to utilize and avoid negligent-selection lawsuits in the event of an accident, a chilling effect on business for such carriers could well have been the result.
No such provision was included in the Senate version.
You can explore the issues behind it all in previous posts available at these links, in chronological order:
According to a bulletin issued today to members of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, which was the primary supporting organization of the “Interim hiring standard,” the entire provision’s language has been removed from the bill reconciled between the House and Senate versions and announced today. The removal followed efforts to change language of the standard in a variety of ways explored in the previously linked posts.
The long-term highway bill ultimately must still pass House and Senate before becoming law.
Here’s part of what TIA noted in its bulletin:
