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Thursday, December 11, 2014

CVSA's Legislative update of FY 2015 FMCSA Appropiations Funding

See below for CVSA's legislative update.
FY 2015 Appropriations Update
Yesterday, the House and Senate released the negotiated 2015 spending bill package. The measure funds transportation and most other government spending through the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2015). However, the Department of Homeland Security is funded for a shorter amount of time, through February of 2015. Funding for FY 2015 is essentially frozen at FY 2014 levels. The bill also contains a number of policy changes, including the provision suspending enforcement of a portion of the hours of service regulations while a study is conducted. A full summary of the relevant provisions can be found below. The House and Senate are both expected to pass the bill this week.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Comments Requested on Increase In Liability Insurance Minimum

Last month the FMCSA seemed ready to release an NPRM to raise the current amount of liability insurance carriers are required to maintain.

The current regulatory minimum for commercial motor vehicles carrying property is $750,000 per occurrence although most carriers maintain $1,000,000 in coverage. Although the minimum has not been changed in decades and the cost of catastrophic loss has escalated, determining a new amount requires a cost benefit analysis including an examination of the effect of resulting increased premiums on small carriers (ATA and OOIDA contend that just 1%  of all truck related crashes exceed the current minimum).