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Freight brokers are lobbying to include a truck-fitness bill in the highway reauthorization, sparking debate between large 3PLs and small carriers over safety standards, transparency, and federal oversight.
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Freight brokers are lobbying to include a truck-fitness bill in the highway reauthorization, sparking debate between large 3PLs and small carriers over safety standards, transparency, and federal oversight.
Freight brokers are intensifying efforts to advance the Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act, legislation that would set federal requirements for carrier vetting. TIA is pressing Congress to include the measure in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization package.
The bill, reintroduced by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), would require brokers and shippers to only work with carriers that:
It also directs FMCSA to create a public-facing website confirming which carriers comply.
“Currently, a significant number of motor carriers lack formal safety ratings, making it challenging for contracting entities to assess their operating authority and attributable risk,” wrote Daniel Hoff, TIA vice president of government affairs, in recent comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
TIA argues the legislation would establish a consistent baseline. “By providing a standardized approach to carrier selection, this bill will enhance safety and accountability throughout the supply chain,” Hoff added.
TIA has lobbied for versions of the bill for nearly a decade. Chris Burroughs, TIA’s president, told FreightWaves: “We’ve been fighting for this for quite a while. We’re hoping now to get it included in the reauthorization package.”
Large third-party logistics providers have also voiced support. In a 2023 statement, Ben Campbell, then chief legal officer at C.H. Robinson, said: “Without a clear federal standard, the result is a confusing patchwork of standards that threaten the nation’s economy and public safety.”
Campbell warned that in the absence of federal rules, shippers and brokers have developed their own safety thresholds, excluding carriers from networks. This, he argued, disproportionately hurts small carriers, who account for roughly 90% of the U.S. trucking market.
Opponents, particularly small trucking businesses, see the bill as another example of large brokers using their political influence to reshape the industry.
In an email to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Leander Richmond, founder of the grassroots group Carriers United, wrote:
“Today, billion-dollar brokers exert enormous influence over decision-making bodies, wielding money and lobbying clout to weaken or erase protections Congress explicitly designed for the motor carriers who are the backbone of this nation’s supply chain.”
Richmond and other independent carriers argue that brokers already flout existing law by withholding transaction records. “Brokers provide a very unnecessary service. If they were forced to follow the law, most of them would not exist,” he said.
The debate over the safety standard legislation is unfolding alongside FMCSA’s plan to reissue its broker transparency rule in January. That rule would ban waiver clauses, mandate record-keeping, and require brokers to provide transaction records within 48 hours of request.
TIA has strongly opposed tying transparency provisions to the highway bill, arguing that today’s broker arrangements—based on negotiated contracts and confidentiality agreements, differ sharply from when federal rate regulation applied.
For carriers, however, both the fitness standards and transparency rules are viewed as critical to leveling the playing field with large brokers. The fight over what Congress includes in the reauthorization package could set the tone for broker-carrier relations for years to come.
Source: FreightWaves
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