Senate Road Bill Would Remove CSA Scores From Public View

WASHINGTON — A six-year highway bill in the Senate that would address several regulatory concerns within the trucking industry appears to lack significant bipartisan backing to advance to the House before funding authority for highway programs expires at the end of the month.

Aside from seeking to reform aspects of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Republican-backed bill would establish a national freight strategic plan and also reauthorize transit, rail and automotive programs.

Among its many provisions, the legislation would remove Compliance, Safety, Accountability program scores from public access until a comprehensive report with a plan outlining ways to improve the scores is published by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Senate Republican floor managers have indicated they plan to proceed quickly with the measure, even announcing a weekend session, with the intention of reporting the bill to the House before the July 31 highway funding deadline.

However, the House on July 15 passed an $8 billion highway funding patch, enough to keep the Highway Trust Fund operating through mid-December. GOP leaders there have said they are not inclined to consider a Senate-passed measure before then.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Commerce Committee and of his party’s conference, told Transport Topics on July 22 that he anticipates the Republican-controlled House to take up a Senate-passed measure if it reaches the lower chamber before the end of the month.

“I think there might be a more favorable reception to that than people might initially expect from the House,” Thune said, noting that his colleagues addressed numerous highway safety concerns championed by Democrats.

“This is a huge bill, and there are a lot of moving parts, and it’s easy for anyone to find one thing or two things or three things they don’t agree with. I can find some things I don’t agree with,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the bill’s primary sponsor, also told TT.

Under the bill, FMCSA would be required to commission the Transportation Research Board to prepare an analysis of the CSA program, which assigns Safety Measurement System scores to commercial motor carriers. Senate aides indicated the study is likely to take about a year after the bill’s enactment to assemble. While the Obama administration defends the SMS scores’ methodology, they are deemed flawed by most carriers.

Republican leaders acknowledged they modified the bill before it reached the floor to allow, among other things, the secretary of transportation to establish a six-year pilot program that would allow states to have a limited number of drivers between ages 18 and 21 operating in interstate commerce.

Only three such agreements would be allowed to take place, involving no more than four states each. The agreements would need to be approved by state governors, and drivers in the pilot program would be allowed to operate up to 100 miles from the border of the state where they received their license.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said the provision is meant to address a shortage of commercial drivers. An earlier version of this provision called for six sets of agreements among states, instead of three.

“The legislation offers important regulatory reforms to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and encourages stronger regulatory analysis,” Fischer, the author of the provisions, said on July 23 on the Senate floor.

The bill also would allow the use of hair testing for pre-employment and random screening as an alternative to urinalysis. The secretary of health and human services would be required to issue technical guidelines for the use of hair testing for controlled substances, as well as to report to Congress about industry practices.

Despite Republican modifications to the bill, many Senate Democrats noted the bill’s safety provisions did not go far enough. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), for instance, told reporters on July 22 that he would look to strengthen FMCSA’s oversight authority during the debate on the floor.

“I think that Congress would be complicit in those deaths that would occur in our roadways if we fail to take this opportunity to increase safety,” Blumenthal said.

Top Republicans also expressed concern with the bill, primarily over its funding structure. The measure includes about $47 billion in “pay-fors,” sufficient to make up for the Highway Trust Fund’s projected $15 billion annual shortfall for three years. Funding for only the first three years of the bill would be authorized under the measure.

Taxes on fuels were not raised as a way to keep the trust fund sustainable. The bill also would seek to raise about $9 billion by selling oil from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Republican Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, chairmen of the Banking and Energy panels, respectively, strongly opposed such “pay-fors.” Murkowski told reporters that tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be “wrongheaded” policy.

The bill also could be delayed if senators insist on attaching non-transportation policy items, such as the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank or a $95 billion package of tax extenders the Senate Finance Committee passed July 21. That package calls for extending the alternative fuel credit and related payment provisions through Dec. 31, 2016.