June Policy Committee Meeting Review

Thank you to all our members who attended the June Policy Committee Meetings.  The Policy Committee meetings covered issues that are impacting the trucking industry and provided members an opportunity to provide input and direction. Below is information on a few hot topics that were discussed. 

 

Dynamex Decision – In response to CTA's Executive Committee directing the Association to look into developing litigation strategies that CTA could pursue, CTA Staff has established the Dynamex Litigation Fundraising Taskforce. The taskforce is in the process of developing its fundraising plan.  Additionally, CTA recently sent out an RFP to qualified law firms that might be interested in representing CTA. Submissions will be reviewed by the Dynamex Litigation Review Panel and they will select the firm that they feel will represent CTA best. To pursue a litigation strategy like this will be extremely costly, however what’s at stake if we don’t fight back will be devastating. 

For information on CTA’s Litigation Strategy and to donate to the fund, click here. 

Proposition 69/SB 1 Repeal Effort/Fix Our Roads Coalition– Proposition 69, which guarantees funds from SB 1 are lock boxed for transportation purposes, passed in the June Primary with an 81% vote. The group that is trying to repeal SB 1 gathered enough signatures and the California Gas Tax Repeal will be on the November ballot. If SB 1 is repealed, Proposition 69 will be voided, weight fees will likely increase and the trucking industry will pay much more than the 20% that they are currently paying into the transportation system. In response to the SB 1 repeal effort, CTA is a part of the Fix Our Roads Coalition. Coalition members include road builders, contractors, labor unions, local transportation groups, etc. CTA is the only road user group in the Fix Our Roads Coalition. The Coalition educates the public on the benefits of SB 1 transportation funds. To get involved in the Fix Our Roads Coalition, visit fixcaroads.com. 

Legislative Update – CTA’s Sponsored Bill, AB 2564 which will create a minimum penalty for owners of "glider" trucks, has cleared the Assembly and will likely clear the Senate in August and be signed into law. The bill has received positive coverage from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, the LA Times, and national news. 

CTA Amendments were taken on AB 327 (Gipson), which resulted in CTA taking a neutral position on the bill.  The original purpose of the bill was to expand regulatory authority to require all new truck purchases to be the "cleanest commercially available technology." CTA killed a similar bill in 2017. CTA worked with the author and AQMD to limit the scope of AB 327 to only affect those public fleets that are under their existing fleet rules.

CTA worked with the Assembly Transportation Committee on SB 210 (Leyva), which would have created a mandatory smog check program, to ensure the bill wouldn’t move forward this year in its current form. The amendments in the bill would give ARB unlimited authority to impose fees while also including no sunset on PSIP. The author agreed to pull the bill after CTA expressed widespread concerns with the lack of detail provided by the author and ARB while drastically expanding ARB authority with no checks and balances built in for the Legislature.  CTA anticipates a similar bill being introduced next year.  The Coalition for Clean Air published an alert to their members about SB 210 and highlighted CTA as the "powerful CTA," illustrating the positive reputation CTA has among the Legislature as "the most reasonable people in the room."

For more information on legislative bills, contact Matt Roman at mroman@caltrux.org.