Obama Taps Darling to Be FMCSA Administrator
President Obama nominated Scott Darling for Senate consideration to be the fifth head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, where he is currently chief counsel.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx confirmed the nomination of Darling, who has also served as FMCSA’s acting administrator, in an Aug. 5 statement.
“Through strong and effective management as chief counsel and acting administrator of FMCSA, Scott has already demonstrated his ability to lead the agency. He is committed to making our roads safer for motorists, passengers and professional truck and bus drivers, and is constantly working with all sides to find solutions to challenges facing the industry and the motoring public,” Foxx said.
If confirmed, Darling will succeed Anne Ferro, administrator from November 2009 to August 2014. When Ferro stepped down, the administration selected Darling to lead FMCSA ahead of then-Deputy Administrator William Bronrott.
Darling’s formal tenure as acting administrator expired in March, in accordance with federal law. In February the agency gained a new deputy administrator, DOT official Daphne Jefferson.
American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said of the nomination, “We congratulate Scott on his nomination to this critical position, and we look forward to continuing to work with him to improve truck and highway safety.”
Darling has been the agency’s top lawyer since 2012. Before that he worked for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Among the issues that will concern Darling as administrator are electronic logging devices, driver hours of service, cross-border trucking with Mexico, standards for entry-level driver training, a clearinghouse for drug and alcohol driver reports, raising mandatory insurance minimums for trucking companies, mandatory use of engine speed governors and the scoring system for the agency’s Comprehensive, Safety, Accountability program.
Not including acting administrators, the first three administrators of FMCSA were all nominated by George W. Bush: Joe Clapp, Annette Sandberg and John Hill. Ferro succeeded Hill.
