CSA Reforms Included in Final Five-Year Highway Bill
Under a five-year highway bill unveiled Dec. 1, federal trucking regulators would be required to remove certain safety performance scores for motor carriers from public view until regulators reform the scoring program.
Specifically, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation, or FAST Act, would call on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to ensure its Compliance, Safety, Accountability scoring program provides “the most reliable” analysis possible.
To do so, policymakers would require the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inspector general and several law enforcement organizations to review CSA extensively. Enforcement and inspection data reported by states and enforcement agencies would remain publicly available during the program’s review.
Trucking leaders have consistently argued CSA data paint an erroneous picture of most carriers’ safety records. Proponents, however, argue that CSA scores offer reliable crash-preventing information.
"By ordering an evaluation and improvement of CSA, as well as removing the flawed scores the system produces from public view in the meantime, this bill is an important victory for data and accuracy in regulatory oversight," American Trucking Associations Executive Vice President and Chief of National Advocacy Dave Osiecki said.
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The final version of Congress’ highway bill also would authorize the use of hair testing as an alternative to urine tests for employment screening, but not until the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services establishes federal standards for hair testing. HHS would have to issue such standards within a year of the bill’s enactment.
The five-year, $305 billion bill is less than what policymakers had intended to unveil. Until recently, lawmakers were looking to advance a six-year highway bill, but that changed amid disputes over the legislation’s funding structure.
And the bill would require the FMCSA administrator to conduct a study on the safety effects of a truck driver who commutes for longer than 150 minutes.
"Today’s announcement that House and Senate leaders had reached an agreement on a long-term highway bill is welcome news to those of us in the transportation world," said ATA President Bill Graves. "While we all, of course, wish there was more money to be had, this bill takes important steps to re-focus the program on important national projects and takes critical steps to improve trucking safety and efficiency."
Overall, the five-year transportation policy measure would guarantee the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund through fiscal 2020. It would do so through “fiscally responsible provisions,” according to a summary of the legislation provided by the House transportation committee. These provisions include tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and relying on accounts managed by the Federal Reserve.
The legislation also would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. The bank’s charter expired in June.
In a joint statement by the leaders of the House and Senate transportation panels, they said the bill “provides long-term certainty for states and local governments, and good reforms and improvements to the programs that sustain our roads, bridges, transit and passenger rail system.”
“We knew that reaching an agreement on this measure would be challenging, but every member of the conference committee was certainly up to the task. We appreciate their hard work in this effort, and we look forward to moving this measure forward and getting it signed into law,” said Reps. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), and Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
The big four transportation authorizers have little time to celebrate their bill’s unveiling. They’re working with a Dec. 4 deadline to send the legislation to President Obama’s desk because current authorization for highway programs expires then.
The bill’s managers anticipate having the House take up the highway bill Dec. 3, setting up Senate action on the measure Dec. 4.
If signed into law, the legislation would mark the first time in about a decade that Congress sends the White House a long-term highway bill. It also would be a significant victory for GOP leaders looking to score a legislative victory under new Speaker Paul Ryan. And myriad transportation stakeholders have been calling for a multiyear highway bill.
Signing of the #FAST Act conference report - legislation that is a vital investment in our country! pic.twitter.com/Pi2TCiG6zj
— T&I Committee (@Transport) December 1, 2015
