Opinion: Fix the Hazmat Endorsement Process Now
By John L. Conley
President, National Tank Truck Carriers
This Opinion piece appears in the July 16 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
The road to the Patriot Act in late 2001 was paved with good intentions. However, like any road built without adequate planning, this one has developed some major potholes. One especially irksome pothole is the fingerprint-based background check requirement for any driver seeking a Commercial Driver License Hazardous Materials Endorsement.
Congress directed that a state could not issue a license to transport hazardous materials requiring a placard until the federal government first determined and notified the licensing state that the “individual does not pose a security risk warranting denial of the license.”
It is important to note that Congress did not mandate that background checks include fingerprinting truck drivers. The Transportation Security Administration wrote regulations that tied a fingerprint check requirement to the HME.
The HME is a safety-knowledge test, but states have been required also to make it a “character test” to ensure an applicant has not committed certain felonies. Regrettably, this is a “one size fits all” requirement. There is no differentiation made among drivers who will haul a cargo tank load of anhydrous ammonia, flatbed drivers pulling a load of ammunition and dry van drivers hauling a load of paint cans.
Drivers currently pay approximately $100, in addition to their time, for the HME. They also may have to pay for and undergo background checks by other federal agencies that have their own fingerprint requirements.
As TSA predicted when it issued its rules, many drivers today are not applying for or renewing the HME. Indeed, one of the major attractions found in many driver recruitment advertisements today is “no HME required.”
Drivers with whom I have spoken say such things as:
n “I don’t need the hassle; there are plenty of driving jobs.”
• “It is an insult that I now have to get a fingerprint background check for a job I have done for years.”
• “I have to pay my own money for something that does not increase my earning.”
• “I can’t renew or transfer the HME from one state to another without starting all over.”
While drivers are patriotic Americans, many question whether the program really promotes security.
We must solve this problem before the industry — and the country — loses more qualified HME drivers. Congress and the federal and state governments must get involved.
These parties currently agree on only two things:
• It is a problem that does indeed need to be addressed.
• It is up to someone else to fix it.
American Trucking Associations, National Tank Truck Carriers and several other associations have developed language for Congress that would promote security while maintaining the HME’s original safety function.
For security, TSA would determine what hazardous materials truly pose a security risk, and then require drivers who would transport those highly security-sensitive materials to get a Transportation Workers Identification Credential, or TWIC. All other drivers would be vetted through a name-based check.
This must be a federal program because the federal government maintains all relevant databases and the states do not have the expertise or resources to perform this security function.
This reasonable approach could take years to implement. It must survive a Congress so divided it probably couldn’t pass a resolution honoring penicillin. TSA faces a challenge where TWIC seems the answer for every transportation security concern. TSA might argue that it needs more resources for TWIC to add up to a million more applicants.
The states have come up with their own unique requirements for what TSA intended to be a consistent program. Finally, there are several millions of dollars being generated by the current program, and no agency will want to lose any of that revenue.
One interim step TSA should take is to remove the burdensome fingerprint background check that a driver goes through because he happens to move across the state line, or when he will have to renew his HME every five or less years.
Once a driver has passed a fingerprint background check for any federal agency, any renewal should involve only a name-based check. “My fingerprints don’t change just because I move,” is a comment I often hear. This should reduce everyone’s costs and speed up processing.
I urge drivers not to give up their HMEs. Even if this becomes another unresolved Washington program, the laws of supply and demand will increase HME value as fewer drivers hold it.
Shippers of hazardous materials have to realize that HME drivers and the carriers who hire them are being held to a higher standard, and that the costs of transporting hazardous materials are increasing everywhere because of security requirements
In Sopranospeak, now is the time for a “sit-down” with Washington, the states, drivers and industry to fix the problems caused by tying background checks to the hazardous materials endorsement process.
I urge HME drivers to please vote with your letters and phone calls to your congressional and state representatives — not with your feet by leaving the hazmat industry. Such efforts can work. U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) introduced legislation to cap background-check fees at $50 because a driver in his district told him of the cost of multiple fingerprint checks some drivers face.
The author is a member of the Commercial Drivers License Review Committee required by Congress and appointed by the Secretary of Transportation. The National Tank Truck Carriers have headquarters in Arlington, Va.
