U.S. Legislative Issues
Lawmakers Seek Long-Term Fix for Highway Trust Fund
Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Highways and Transit Subcommittee, have penned a letter to leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee urging them to include a long-term solution for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) as part of any tax reform package. "Not only do our roads, bridges and public transportation facilities depend on a positive, long-term solution, but the American economy does as well," the lawmakers said in their letter.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) have repeatedly voiced their desire to overhaul the U.S. tax code this year. Like Graves and Norton, the Trump Administration has indicated that it would like to see tax reform coupled with a long-term infrastructure funding plan.
The HTF provides the financing structure for federal investment in transportation projects. Motor fuels taxes, consisting of the 18.4-cent per gallon tax on gasoline and 24-cent per gallon tax on diesel fuels, are the HTF’s main dedicated revenue source. However, lower fuel consumption, changing driving preferences by younger and older Americans, and improving fuel efficiency in vehicles have reduced the revenue from fuels taxes resulting in a budget shortfall. It is projected that the HTF will fall short on needed funds in about three years. To date, neither the Trump Administration nor Congressional Republicans have released a plan for infrastructure funding going forward.
Report Suggests New Medical Examiner Requirements Yield Little Benefit
New regulations that doctors examining truck drivers be trained and certified in U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) medical requirements haven’t increased the amount of time physicians are spending with their patients, but they have driven up costs, according to new research by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry's nonprofit research organization, and the Mayo Clinic. The study found that since the creation of a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME), almost two-thirds of drivers reported increased exam costs but only 6 percent reported improved exam quality.
ATRI and Mayo Clinic jointly surveyed over 900 commercial drivers, 300 motor carriers and 1,200 certified medical examiners (CMEs) to better understand the impacts that the NRCME has had on the trucking industry since its implementation in 2014. The NRCME was designed to improve the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) physical exam process and ensure that medical examiners understand FMCSA regulations and guidance for issuing medical certificates. ATRI’s research focused on commercial driver and motor carrier impacts. Additional findings include:
- 6 percent of drivers reported spending 20 minutes or less with their CME, with 6.5 percent of those drivers spending 10 minutes or less, an insufficient time to complete all required processes of a DOT physical.
- Motor carriers still have significant concerns related to the medical certification process, including requests by CMEs for additional medical documentation causing certification delays, driver confusion of how regulatory changes impact the ability to hold a valid medical certificate, and concerns with the competency of CMEs.
- Nearly 50 percent of motor carriers reported that they specify which CME their drivers see to ensure medical exam quality.
- The ability of drivers to find a CME close to where they live may be more challenging in the future as 15.3 percent of CMEs reported that they have quit performing DOT physicals or plan to quit performing DOT physicals.
"The study is under review," said FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne, emphasizing that the NRCME was required by federal law and addressed four National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations.
Study Urges Prioritization of Road Maintenance over New Projects
On April 18, 2017, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) Education Fund and the Frontier Group released the third iteration of their "highway boondoggles" report, which argues that taxpayer dollars are too often wasted on building new highways and widening current ones rather than tending to America’s mounting repair and maintenance backlog. Such spending, the report argues, has "been proven ineffective at decreasing congestion, pollution and traffic, and instead adds strain to already limited budgets, while hurting public health and the environment."
The report’s authors also include a list of what they see as the nine "most wasteful" highway projects in the nation, which together could cost $10 billion or more. The writers say that resources should actually be directed toward maintaining infrastructure already in place:
"While $10 billion is scheduled to be wasted on these highway boondoggles, the most recent federal data show the country has 56,000 structurally deficient bridges, about 9 percent of all bridges. Moreover, a recent analysis of the nation’s highways reported that 21 percent had poor pavement condition. Once maintenance on these structures is deferred, the future cost to repair and rehabilitate roads and bridges back to good condition grows significantly, adding to mounting transportation infrastructure costs."
The study concludes with a number of recommendations focusing on utilizing transportation data to identify priority projects and future driving trends as well as adopting transportation solutions that reduce the need for costly and disruptive highway expansion projects.
NAFA Fleet Management Association
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