Dive Brief:
- The Small Business in Transportation Coalition is questioning a recent petition by the Transportation Intermediaries Association in the aftermath of a noteworthy Supreme Court decision.
- The coalition says the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration should take a much more limited role than what the TIA is requesting with a new federal standard. The standard would help brokers and shippers assess the safety risk when selecting a carrier for a load, according to a TIA petition last month.
- “It appears TIA should be knocking on Congress’ door, not the agency,” the SBTC said in its latest petition. The high court’s Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II et al. decision dismantled a legal defense that brokers had at their disposal against negligent hiring claims.
Dive Insight:
The TIA is asking the FMCSA to step in, suggesting the agency could provide more information to brokers, CEO and President Chris Burroughs told Trucking Dive. Possible solutions include a revamp of the ratings process or faster regulatory screenings, he said.
“We're open to any sort of idea,” Burroughs said. “We just need clarity.” He said the public data currently available is woefully inadequate for brokers and shippers to make reliable decisions about a carrier’s safety.
The industry group wants the agency to better show which carriers that FMCSA has determined to be “unfit to operate safely” and that a carrier is properly registered and has minimum insurance coverage.
TIA also wants the agency to provide a list of “high risk” carriers.
“Asking FMCSA to better define ‘safe’ isn’t outsourcing responsibility—it’s asking the agency to do its job so everyone else can do theirs more effectively,” Burroughs also said in a LinkedIn comment.
SBTC also countered that the FMCSA should confine the “high risk” carrier list to just those that the agency has rated as unsatisfactory. The group has noted that an unrated carrier does not mean unsafe, just that the agency has not gotten around to fully evaluating it.
Burroughs said the TIA is pursuing relief following the Montgomery decision through both the FMCSA and Congress, but he added that legislators have been unable to deliver meaningful change over the years.
The Supreme Court decision’s impacts on the brokerage industry are already affecting some carriers, notably as C.H. Robinson Worldwide revised its selection criteria.
