New Year, New Challenges, New Opportunities - CTA Outlook from Shawn Yadon, CEO

As we begin a new year, I would like to start by expressing thanks from CTA and our members to those in the public safety arena as citizens in our state have endured enormous tragedy and loss just weeks ago when the Camp Fire in Butte County and the Woolsey Fire in Ventura/L.A. counties brought devastation and loss of life. The firefighters, emergency medical personnel, local PDs, the California Highway Patrol and all first responders placed their lives on the line to protect and save lives. In many cases, they worked on behalf of public safety while their own homes succumbed to flames. I cannot imagine being on the front lines in such horrific situations, and we all sincerely thank our California first responders.

The tail end of 2018 also saw critical elections taking place throughout California at the local, state andfederal levels. Leaving partisanship off the table, we saw departures from both sides of the political aislefor various reasons tied to the fall elections. Whether it be through retirements, terms limits or simply via election losses, the legislative landscape saw substantial changes take place following November 6. As your industry voice, representative association and advocates for trucking, we digest that changing landscape and take strategic steps to ready for 2019 and beyond. But trucking in California will see zeroreprieve. While all of us know our industry is extraordinarily vital to the economic vitality of our greatstate, providing one in 20 jobs, transporting 82 percent of the total manufactured tonnage and being the sole goods transportation mode that 77.5 percent of California communities rely upon, trucking continues to be the target of anti-business, anti-industry legislation and regulation, as well as disgraceful frivolous lawsuits from the trial attorneys bar.

As I have stated repeatedly over the past several years, CTA will continue to fight for this industry at the state capitol from a legislative standpoint, before regulatory agencies and bodies throughout California,The CTA lawsuit in response to the California Supreme Court decision in the Dynamex case is an example of taking the fight (in this case fighting to protect the independent contractor model in California) to the federal courts and up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. But to be clear, we are interested and ready to work with the new Governor Newsom administration, the new incoming state legislators and the new incoming members of Congress representing California. These new individuals will be engaging with not only the CTA staff team in Sacramento working on your behalf, but they will meet and get to know you personally. It continues to be vital that your business, your story and the jobs you create and/or supportare front and center in the minds of all lawmakers and regulators. These individuals will be educated about the importance of trucking and the fact that a healthier trucking industry from a statutory and regulatorystandpoint is mandatory for California to thrive and be competitive not only within the U.S., but globally as California continues to be hailed as the world’s 5th largest economy.

While the landscape in 2019 will be more challenging than ever, trucking in California is up to that challenge – and opportunity. I look forward to seeing you in San Diego at the CTA’s 2019 Annual Membership Conference, January 23-27