Government

About Government News...

Transport Topics government and regulatory coverage keeps managers of a highly-regulated industry aware of the policy decisions that can shape their businesses. Covering both the legislative and regulatory aspects of policy-making, at both the state and national levels, the news in this category includes looks at infrastructure, hours of service, emissions rules, funding measures, leadership appointments, and more. Readers can follow what’s happening in Congress, at the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Administration, and in state and local governments.

Business, Government, Logistics

Consumer Confidence Falls to Seven-Month Low

Consumer confidence fell in June to a seven-month low, the New York-based Conference Board said Tuesday.

June 28, 2011
Editorial, Government, Business

Imagine Improved Infrastructure

Imagine a time when a statewide trucking organization, in order to help its state government pay for necessary improvements to roads and bridges, supports a proposal that the state float a bond issue to cover the work and volunteers to have its members pay most of the bills for the work through a jump in the diesel fuel tax.

June 27, 2011
Government

Highway Funds Reauthorization Pushed to September or Later

With Congress slated to spend its summer on budget negotiations and the debt ceiling, legislative leaders said reauthorization of transportation funding has been crowded off the agenda until September, if not later.

June 27, 2011
Government

FMCSA Plans August Restart for Mexico Trucks Program

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hopes to relaunch its controversial Mexican trucks pilot project by mid-August, according to an agency official.

June 27, 2011
Government

Senator Proposes Liens on Transportation Assets

The ability of state and local governments to raise cash by leasing or selling transportation assets to private investors would be slowed, if not killed altogether, under a bill introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois).

June 27, 2011
Government

FMCSA Panel Seeks Database to Find, Track Safety Violators

A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration advisory committee last week recommended that the agency set up a database to identify and track trucking company officials, supervisors and other key “persons of influence” who exhibit “patterns of safety violations.”

June 27, 2011
Government, Business

Arkansas Truckers Rethink Higher Diesel Tax After Poll Shows Broad Public Disapproval

Arkansas truckers, whose leadership convinced state legislators to approve a 5-cent-a-gallon diesel tax increase for highway repairs, are seeking a new funding source after a plan to put the tax proposal before the voters ran into stiff opposition.

June 27, 2011
Business, Fuel, Government

Diesel Dips 0.4¢ to $3.95 a Gallon; DOE to Open Strategic Petroleum Reserve

The average price of a gallon of retail diesel dipped for the sixth time in the past seven weeks, even before 28 nations agreed June 23 to release 60 million barrels of crude oil from their strategic reserves in a bid to drive fuel prices lower around the world.

June 27, 2011
Government

First-Quarter GDP Revised Upward to 1.9%

The U.S. economy rose at a 1.9% annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday, boosting an earlier estimate.

June 24, 2011
Government, Business

Maine Votes to End Fuel Tax Indexing

Maine’s legislature has approved a two-year, $637 million transportation funding bill that would end annual fuel tax increases tied to inflation beginning next year.

Timothy Cama | Staff Reporter
June 21, 2011