Opinion: ATA Intends to Build on 2016 Successes
This Opinion piece appears in the Jan. 30 print edition of Transport Topics. By Chris Spear
American Trucking Associations
The new year often brings changes. And rarely has that been as true as this year, as we have just inaugurated a new president who appears poised to change Washington. It’s also a time of renewed focus, to reflect on where we are and look forward and position for success.
Spear We at ATA intend in 2017 to build on the successes we achieved last year, when we secured a permanent fix to the hours-of-service restart — putting to rest our industry’s top issue. Additionally, we saw regulatory wins in the form of a long-awaited drug-and-alcohol testing clearinghouse rule and an entry-level driver training rule — both of which ATA helped shape. We saw legal victories against the New York State Thruway in ATA’s fight against tolling and when a federal judge in Texas blocked the Obama administration’s overtime rules, which would have forced carriers to micromanage the time of countless dispatchers and other managers.
These wins are just part of the transformation underway at ATA. During my first six months as president and CEO, we began to turn this association into a more aggressive, more effective advocacy operation. That starts with ATA’s members, who have joined the Strategic Priorities Committee and set our federation’s direction; who are leading the search for alternative revenue sources for our roads and bridges as part of our Infrastructure Funding Task Force; who are identifying a new dues structure as part of our Revenue Task Force; who support our advocacy efforts through TruckPAC or research through ATRI; and who are working to improve our industry’s image through Trucking Moves America Forward.
This transformation includes our state association partners, who are working closely with us to make sure trucking’s interests are well-represented at the state level. The best example of this is our work with the Rhode Island Trucking Association and other state associations as we fight the spread of tolls on our interstate highways.
It also includes our staff. Since July, ATA has been building a team focused on delivering value and results to our members. With a strong close to 2016 and the anticipation that comes with a new Congress and presidential administration, there’s new energy in our organization, at our headquarters, at our Capitol Hill office and around the country.
It’s like the momentum I felt as I visited 22 states in my first four months as ATA president and CEO. I met with members and future members of ATA, and listened to their concerns to determine the best path for ATA going forward.
In 2017, I am confident we will continue our journey down that path and deliver the wins that ATA’s members and this industry deserve. We will be engaged and at the table with our elected leaders in statehouses, Congress and the White House as well as with regulators throughout Washington. I believe that engagement will end attempts to enforce unnecessary state-level break rules on truckers, whose breaks are governed by rules promulgated at the federal level. Operating across state lines requires a single rule governing how drivers must organize their time. Congress recognized this in 1994, and we believe it will reassert itself in 2017, pre-empting this inefficient, counterproductive patchwork.
We will engage with government leaders on the future of autonomous vehicles. Trucks move 70% of the nation’s freight and 56% of gross domestic product. I believe in the next few years we will see a greater focus on how autonomous vehicle technology can make those movements safer and more efficient. Automation holds great promise for our industry — not as a replacement for our 3.5 million professional drivers but as a catalyst for making drivers’ jobs easier, our roads safer and our supply chain more efficient.
To unlock this potential, our industry should not take a back seat to automakers and passenger vehicles. ATA is taking the lead in this regard and will have a role in shaping the future of autonomous vehicles. Since rejoining ATA, my staff and I have participated in numerous roundtable discussions and panels on the topic. And just recently, I was named to the Department of Transportation’s Secretarial Advisory Committee on Automation in Transportation, where ATA will be able to advocate for the importance of trucking and freight as this new technology is explored and adopted.
As for infrastructure, the Trump administration has talked about a 10-year, $1 trillion infrastructure package. This is a bold, transformational, long-term investment that will improve safety, ease congestion and provide much-needed capacity to an overtaxed network.
But long-term investment requires sustainable, dedicated funding, and while we will continue to support increasing and indexing the fuel tax, we must be prepared to offer new solutions to the revenue question. Our Infrastructure Task Force will play an important role in representing trucking — an industry that already shoulders more than half of the funding burden.
ATA will be at the table, representing our members’ interests when it comes to important issues such as tax reform and trade. Our industry is taxed at higher levels than other modes of transportation.
Trucks also move America’s exports. Currently, 76% of our Nafta trade with Mexico and Canada crosses the border in a truck — supporting thousands of U.S. jobs.
This year will be big for ATA. I thank our members for their support and invite past and prospective members to be part of this winning team. Together, we can make a difference.
American Trucking Associations, the largest national trade federation in the trucking industry, has headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and affiliated associations in every state. ATA owns Transport Topics.
