Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/791967
Voices channel 19 6 | Overdrive | March 2017 Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. In the wake of Donald Trump's elec- tion, the incoming chair of the House Freedom Caucus issued a big bucket list of what it considers to be prob- lematic rules and regulations. The caucus, a fairly small but nonetheless consequential group of more-conser- vative-than-usual Republicans in the U.S. House, hopes the initiative could influence the incoming administra- tion's efforts at revising and removing regulations. The House caucus had been men- tioned earlier by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association as an ally in overturning the Federal Mo- tor Carrier Safety Administration's electronic logging device mandate. OOIDA's early-January press release announcing the 7th Circuit Court's denial of a rehearing on the ELD mandate placed some hope not only on an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court but also on the caucus, in con- cert with the new administration. The release detailed OOIDA's intent to "pull out all the stops" to convince the administration and lawmakers, calling out the caucus in particular. In our January and February polling, nearly nine in 10 readers remain staunchly opposed to the ELD mandate. If you're among that nine, now would be the time to get the pen moving, if it hasn't been already. Regular readers will recall small- fleet owner David Morin's active com- munication with his own representa- tive this past fall. I know many of you have expressed your views with your own reps. The same can be said for mandate supporters, even among owner-oper- ators — most of whom hope that a broad uptake of ELDs cuts capacity enough to push up rates. That could deliver a windfall to haulers whose routes and customers are such that ELDs are little more than a slightly more expensive way to record prog- ress through the day. Commenting on Facebook, ELD opponent Phil Killerlain reinforced the importance of communicating with Congress, given the years that a Supreme Court case might take. He expressed hope that incoming Free- dom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows and caucus members "get this and a lot more stopped so that OOIDA doesn't have to go to SCOTUS." Access a copy of the House cau- cus' list of regs and more via the Jan. 14 post on Channel 19. A next step in ELD fight Vermont resident Steve Hearne re- tired in 2009 after 30 years of driving in local/regional and over-the-road operations. He sent in the picture of a Ford AA model with a proud subject line: When a truck was a truck … "That is a picture of my grand- father William Snarski's truck," Hearne says. "Four-cylinder flathead, four-speed transmission with low/low first gear. It had a hand crank in case the battery went dead. The wind- shield opened from the bottom for air conditioning. "I don't know the year [the picture] was taken, but probably in the '50s. That old apple tree is still here, but Gramps and his truck are long gone. He used to, among other things, jack up the rear end and hook up a saw rig with a big flat belt to saw his firewood into chunks. He would cut with a cross- cut handsaw and bring it out of the woods in 4-foot lengths, and when he had enough in the stack for the winter, out came the belt and the saw rig." Hearne can "still hear the zing of that big old sawblade as he cut wood. I am fairly sure OSHA would not approve of that operation." To read more about the truck and Hearne, catch the Jan. 30 blog post. Of this Ford's secondary use, Hearne says, "I am fairly sure OSHA would not approve." Owner-operators' views of electronic log mandate I'm against it 89% I'm for it 8% I'm neutral 3% Source: OverdriveOnline.com poll 'When a truck was a truck' and more