Truckers Applaud House Transportation Committee on Fighting Freight Fraud

“Freight fraud committed by criminals and scam artists has been devastating to many small business truckers simply trying to make a living in a tough freight market,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) applauded the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee for taking action to combat freight fraud by passing the bipartisan Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act to combat freight fraud. The legislation introduced by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Congressman Mike Ezell (R-MS) would enhance the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) ability to crack down on freight fraud. Motor carriers are victimized through unpaid claims, unpaid loads, double brokered loads, or load phishing schemes on a daily basis. This costs the trucking industry over $800 million annually.

“Freight fraud committed by criminals and scam artists has been devastating to many small business truckers simply trying to make a living in a tough freight market,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer. “OOIDA and the 150,000 small-business truckers we represent applaud the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee for its bipartisan approach in providing FMCSA better tools to root out fraudulent actors, which are also harmful to consumers and highway safety. Because of the broad industry support for these commonsense reforms, we hope this legislation will move to the full House of Representatives for a vote without delay.”

Problem: Professional truckers have been telling the U.S. Department of Transportation for decades about inadequate broker regulations that are rarely, if ever, enforced. This has resulted in an inequitable economic environment for truckers, especially small-businesses who are victimized by unscrupulous brokers and other fraudulent entities. The current regulatory framework limits fraud enforcement, enables bad actors to operate with impunity, and forces out drivers who want to build sustainable trucking careers.

Solution: The Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act restores and codifies FMCSA’s authority to issue civil penalties against bad actors. The legislation also requires that brokers, freight forwarders, and carriers provide a valid business address to FMCSA in order to register for authority.

 The bill has been endorsed by the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), American Trucking Associations’ Moving & Storage Conference (ATA-MSC), Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA), the National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC), Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), Institute for Safer Trucking (IST) and Road Safe America.

Additionally, the Committee passed the Motor Carrier Safety Screening Modernization Act , which would require states to implement an impartial process to review challenges against incorrectly issued citations or violations. Under current practice, states have the authority to establish their own review process. Unfortunately, nearly all of them have established a system where a review is conducted by the same person or agency who issued the violation, which creates an inherent conflict of interest. The Motor Carrier Safety Screening Modernization Act will require that a “Request for Data Review,” or “DataQ,” is adjudicated by someone other than the officer that issued the citation. This change will finally ensure some level of due process for truckers in the DataQ process.

Both bills now move on the full House of Representatives for consideration. Truckers and the traveling public are welcome to go to FightingForTruckers.com to encourage their lawmakers to support the bills. 

 

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