Bill To Temporarily Remove CSA Scores From Public View Introduced In US House

by: Eric Belk; Find Eric on Google+

Five Republican US House members have introduced HR 1220, a bill requiring carriers to be vetted by brokers, freight forwarders, and shippers prior to hiring. The bill also seeks to alter the perception that the DOT's Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program's carrier rankings are a useful tool for vetting carriers before hiring them.

The bill was introduced on February 26th and has been touted by its supporters as a bill that would increase interstate commerce through creating a nationwide hiring standard for motor carriers.

The specifics of the bill would require companies hiring carriers to:

- Verify their DOT registration status

- Confirm that carriers maintain the required amount of liability insurance

- Ensure the carrier does not have an unsatisfactory safety rating.

In the interest of promoting safety, lawmakers would also like to see the CSA's BASIC rankings removed from public view until the Safety Fitness Determination testing regulations have been put into place. This facet of the bill was highly sought-after by the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), a trucking trade group.

While the TIA touted the potential benefits of the CSA initiative in its announcement of the bill, the group also asked that BASIC data be removed from public view-at least temporarily. Other major trucking associations such as the ATA and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association have asked lawmakers to go beyond the scope of the TIA's recommendations by completely removing BASIC rankings from public view so they cannot be used against carriers during the hiring process.

Logistec/TTS agrees with the TIA's assessment of the situation. Given the issues that BASIC scores have caused the trucking industry, we believe that replacing them with true Safety Fitness Determination scores is the right way to go about establishing a reliable national standard for hiring.  As always, Logistec/TTS will continue posting updates as they become available.