Rep. Lois Frankel Wants CSA Scores to Stay Public During Review
WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety performance rating scores for motor carriers would remain available to the public while the scoring program is reviewed under an amendment proposed by Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) to a multiyear highway bill on the House floor.
Under the bill, FMCSA would be required to make “corrective actions” to its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. That would include a review of CSA by the National Research Council of the National Academies, during which time certain CSA scores would be removed from public view.
Most of the trucking industry has long been critical of the CSA program. The bill’s provision to reform the program is seen by the industry as Congress’ response to concerns that motor carriers have raised about the program’s accuracy.
The House Rules Committee is tasked with determining whether Frankel’s amendment, as well as others, will see floor time during the highway policy bill’s consideration in the House.
At a Nov. 3 hearing of the Rules Committee, the panel considered more than 250 amendments and heard from nearly three dozen members who asked the panel that their amendments be allowed on the floor as part of the highway bill debate this week.
The committee is planning on announcing which amendments to allow on the floor as early as Nov. 4. Proposed amendments ranged from devolving transportation funding responsibility to the states, a proposal backed by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), to raising the federal gas tax. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a longtime advocate of raising fuel taxes to pay for infrastructure projects, backed that proposal.
The bill is currently on the floor and a vote on final passage is expected by the end of the week.
