Trucking Faces Changes After Election Turnover

This story appears in the Nov. 15 print edition of Transport Topics.

When the executive committee of the Tennessee Trucking Association gathers Dec. 7 for its first meeting since the November election, the conversation probably will mirror discussions among trucking leaders in states across the country.

Summing up the new political challenges facing Tennessee truckers, association President David Huneryager asked, “Where do we go? What do we try to accomplish with this group of folks that are in power?”

Nationwide, voters fractured the political status quo, sweeping Republican newcomers into statehouses that the party has not controlled in decades or longer.

For the first time since Reconstruction, the GOP won control of both the Tennessee governorship and the legislature.

“And our congressional delegation,” Huneryager said, “went from 5-4 Democrat to 7-2 Republican, so we’ll have a lot of new ones there, too.”

The partisan change, trucking leaders in several states said, requires them to seek new alliances on issues ranging from tort reform and contract indemnification to truck taxes and infrastructure spending.

“Our heads are still swimming, trying to sort out all of the changes that will be brought about as a result of this election,” said John Hausladen, president of the Minnesota Trucking Association.

For the first time ever in Minnesota, Republicans will control the state Senate. They also won control of the lower chamber.

Hausladen said Minnesota’s election turnover was so sweeping that, in the two legislative houses, 60 novice members must be educated on trucking issues.

“We will be putting on a full-court press to try and arrange . . . meetings between now and Christmas,” Hausladen said. “We won’t reach them all, with the short time frame and holidays, but we will get a good start.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in January the GOP will control at least 54 of the nation’s 99 state legislative chambers — the most since 1952.

With recounts still under way in some races, the NCSL estimated that Republicans have gained at least 680 state legislative seats, the largest gain by either party since 1966.

The North Carolina Senate is now in Republican control for the first time since 1870 and the Alabama legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, the NCSL said.

In statehouse after statehouse, trucking leaders told Transport Topics, the election swept out enemies and friends, along with transportation committee members steeped in trucking issues.

Robert Sculley, president of the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association, said truckers there are not sorry to see the GOP take over both houses, but that some institutional memory has been lost.

“They’re figuring every committee will have at least nine new members,” Sculley said.

In Ohio, where Republican John Kasich ousted Democratic incumbent governor Ted Strickland, Republicans also took control of both houses.

“The Republicans needed to win four seats to control the house. They picked up 12,” said Larry Davis, president of the Ohio Trucking Association. Depending on the results of two recounts, the number could rise to 14.

Davis said incoming GOP legislators are expected to concentrate on what “business needs” to rebound, but the state, he added, has an $8 billion deficit and Kasich has not ruled out raising fees and eliminating tax exemptions that could affect trucking.

In Wisconsin, where Republicans won the governorship and legislative control, trucking hopes tort reform and protection against contract indemnification will be priorities, said Thomas Howells, president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association.

“We had a number of battles in the last legislative session, so, we’re hoping that there’ll be a little bit more of a climate to talk about how we curb lawsuit abuse,” Howells said.

Transportation funding plans may not get favorable hearings from new Republican majorities, some state trucking leaders said.

New Hampshire’s new lawmakers, for example, are more conservative than those ousted, Sculley said. A temporary rise in car and truck registration fees that helped close a budget shortfall may not be renewed when it expires next year.

“If it is not reauthorized, then our DOT will lose another $45 million a year,” Sculley said.

In Idaho, GOP majorities in the House and Senate gained strength, which does not bode well for transportation funding, said Kathleen Fowers, president of the Idaho Trucking Association. “I don’t think there is the gumption to do anything,” she said.

For two years, Idaho truckers, the business community and incumbent GOP Gov. Butch Otter, who won re-election, battled unsuccessfully for a new road funding plan.

Fowers said she does not expect anyone to put a plan forward next year, although a governor’s task force on the issue is supposed to produce a report next month.

Tennessee’s Huneryager, however, takes issue with speculation that GOP majorities mean the trucking industry will see little or no transportation funding.

“There’s a number of [newly-elected Tennessee lawmakers] that did take no-tax pledges,” Huneryager said, “but we’ve got to make them understand, and maybe make the people understand, there’s a connection between good roads and a good economy.

“If we were building roads, there’d be a lot more construction people back to work,” he said. “There’s a direct correlation so we just have to continue to make sure they understand that.”