Independent Trucker Group Pushes Back Against ELD Mandate

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) filed a petition on August 29 with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pointing out that 26 states have not yet incorporated an electronic logging regulation into state law and are not authorized to enforce the rule until they do so.

OOIDA supports a proposed delay to the mandate.

That is the conclusion another group,, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, seems to have arrived at when it recently notified the FMCSA that its members will delay full enforcement of the ELD rule until April 1, 2018. This is despite the fact that the rule goes into full effect in December 2017.

“These are just examples of the monumental reasons this mandate is not ready for prime time,” said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA. “Too many states are not ready to rollout the mandate and can’t possibly be ready by the Dec. 18 deadline.”

OOIDA’s petition says that more than 20 states are years behind in adopting amendments and additions to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations into state law. In order to qualify for federal grants under the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program, states are required to incorporate the FMCSRs or their equivalent into state law.

In 2016, 95 percent of motor carrier and driver enforcement violations were issued by MCSAP states. OOIDA’s petition points out that serious legal problems arise because states are attempting to enforce federal safety standards that have not been made part of state law.

OOIDA contends that when FMCSA amends its regulations, the states must incorporate those amendments into state law before they can enforce them.

For example, Delaware has not updated its incorporation of the FMCSRs since 2006, while Arizona last updated in 2012 and Kansas in 2013.

“That means that new regulations and amendments to old regulations promulgated by FMCSA since the last incorporation date for these states are not part of state law,” added Spencer.

“We know that state enforcement officers lack the training and equipment to operate in an ELD environment. This lack of preparedness should come as no surprise given that half the states have not even adopted FMCSA’s ill-conceived ELD rule into state law,” said Spencer.

“No state law enforcement should be implementing the ELD mandate until they actually adopt the mandate into state law and train and equip their enforcement personnel to enforce it properly,” said Spencer.

Category: General Update