U.S. Legislative Updates

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an amendment that would block the U.S. Department of Transportation from mandating the use of electronic onboard recorders on (EOBRs) on trucks. The House approved a bill that would block any federal mandate requiring the use of electronic onboard recorders on vehicles, including a regulation included in the highway funding legislation that President Obama has signed into law.
 
The measure, from Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA), was included as an amendment to an appropriations bill that would fund transportation and housing programs in fiscal year 2013. It would prohibit the Department of Transportation from using funding to develop an EOBR mandate or any other requirements that vehicles use tracking devices. "The Department of Transportation has become obsessed with electronically monitoring vehicle movements," Landry said in a speech proposing the amendment.

The Senate’s transportation appropriations bill, which passed the Senate Appropriation Committee passed in April, contains no such provision and encourages DOT to issue a regulation. DOT plans to release a supplement to its proposed EOBR proposal late this year. A federal court overturned a previous mandate for carriers with the worst record of hours-of-service regulation.


A U.S. Senate committee has approved the extension of the biodiesel tax credit through December 31, 2013 and retroactive to January 1, 2012. The Senate Finance Committee approved the extension of the biodiesel credit as part of a collection of expired and expiring tax provisions on August 2 2012, but the bill’s prospects for final congressional action are bleak. Quick resolution is unlikely, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to use the breaks as bargaining chips in the upcoming fiscal debate. The House has yet to take action on similar legislation.

The Senate committee action also extends for two years (through 2013) the 30-percent credit for alternative fuel refueling property. The proposal is effective for property placed in service after December 31, 2011.