The Unified Agenda of the Division of Transportation (DOT), and specifically that a part of it that applies to the Federal Motor Provider Security Administration, is a laundry record of ongoing processes and aspirational targets that leaves important room for decoding what the division and FMCSA’s priorities are for the approaching months and yr.
The agenda launched earlier this month is the primary in additional than a yr. The traditional rhythm is a twice per yr launch of the priorities. However that second launch didn’t occur in 2025.
Whereas it’s straightforward to dismiss the agenda, as a result of it doesn’t have the pressure of regulation or necessities that any self-scheduled deadlines be met, P. Sean Garney, co-director of Scopelitis Transportation Consulting, mentioned it was “an honest barometer of the kind of issues that the federal authorities is considering doing.”
He did concede, nevertheless, that most of the gadgets on the Unified Agenda “have been on there for years and years.”
Wording within the entries within the Unified Agenda is normally quick on specifics and historical past. The language “is essentially the most vanilla description they will discover as a result of they’re similar to, these are issues we’re serious about,” Sue Lawless, a associate on the Scopelitis Legislation Agency who held a number of main positions at FMCSA earlier in her profession, mentioned of the agenda. “You’re not going to get the backstory from the Unified Agenda.”
How a lot can they get executed?
The record of things launched this month was seen by Lawless and others as formidable. Perhaps an excessive amount of so: Lawless mentioned of the gadgets on the record, and their projected dates for arduous motion resembling publishing a Discover of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) by the tip of this month, “There’s no means you’re going to get all of these items out and executed. Whenever you have a look at all of the issues they’re proposing, the vast majority of them are very substantial heavy lifts for the company to do.”
Talking from the provider aspect of the transportation sector, David Heller, senior vp of security and authorities affairs on the Truckload Carriers Affiliation, mentioned this yr’s model of the agenda “is among the most aggressive ones I’ve seen in my time.”
The TCA earlier final month printed a white paper on FMCSA with the title “Proposals for Complete Reform: Prioritizing Investments in Core Security Mission.” Heller mentioned the modifications referred to as for by TCA in that doc “goes nearly hand in glove” with the agenda, as a result of the precedence record wants numerous sources to get it executed. And one of many themes within the paper was that FMCSA wants extra personnel and different instruments.
Even supposing FMCSA is among the “most consequential” businesses within the federal authorities, the TCA paper mentioned “it stays one of many smallest working administrations” within the DOT.
“FMCSA regulates a whole lot of 1000’s of interstate motor carriers, tens of millions of business drivers, and the autos that transfer a considerable share of the nation’s freight and passengers,” the white paper mentioned. “Regardless of the size of that accountability and the persistent public-safety dangers related to large-truck and bus operations, the company continues to function with restricted staffing, constrained sources, outdated regulatory constructions, and fragmented oversight instruments.”
Heller mentioned FMCSA has been including sources. “Is it going to be sufficient?” he mentioned. “I don’t have that math.”
However he added that the report and the 48 FMCSA gadgets on the Unified Agenda “are nearly hand in glove.”
Continuation of more durable insurance policies
Heller mentioned a number of gadgets within the agenda are indicators the administration and FMCSA administrator Derek Barrs “will proceed to be aggressive in enforcement by profiting from the chance of getting these dangerous carriers off the street. It’s lastly time that the company has executed this.”
Points that have already got been handled by means of different actions are within the agenda. For instance, an merchandise that had not been printed beforehand in earlier agendas asks whether or not the rule on English language proficiency must be codified as an out of service violation.
President Trump signed an govt order final yr requiring enforcement of the long-standing regulation that truck drivers have to be proficient in English. The merchandise within the agenda if it takes the following step presumably would discover the principles within the govt order making its means into federal regulation.
In contrast to different gadgets within the agenda, the query of codifying the English language rule has no proposed date for the launch of a NPRM or an Superior NPRM.
Specializing in CDLs
One other signal that what has been described as a “crackdown” will proceed was a new proposal for CDL requirements.
The company, in line with the agenda merchandise, “is proposing to amend its rules to boost the safety requirements for the State-issued industrial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and industrial learner’s permits (CLPs). This motion would strengthen the integrity of the CDL and CLP issuance course of and scale back the danger of fraud.” The modifications would contain such requirements as doc verification and document retention.
Among the many gadgets on the agenda that have been talked about by Lawless as important was the Framework for Automated Driving Techniques (ADS) Security which might regulate autonomous autos.
Like greater than half the gadgets within the agenda, it had been printed beforehand. And there really have been two remark intervals on a pair of Superior NPRMs that closed in 2019 and 2023, respectively.
The entry on ADS on this yr’s agenda says the “motion date” for a full NPRM is August.
“I don’t know what strategy they’re going to take to ascertain guardrails for autonomous gear motor autos,” Lawless mentioned. “But it surely looks like that will be forward of what the NHTSA is doing.”
That reference was to the truth that the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Company additionally has gadgets within the Unified Agenda to take care of the difficulty of autonomous autos.
The FMCSA entry on an ADS regulatory motion is predictably imprecise. “The proposed modifications to the industrial motorized vehicle operations, inspection, restore, and upkeep rules prioritize security and safety, promote innovation, foster a constant regulatory strategy to ADS-equipped CMVs, and acknowledge the distinction between human operators and ADS.”
That reference to defining what constitutes a human driver was talked about by Garney as a key problem.
“Is the autonomous driving system thought-about a driver beneath the rules or not?” he mentioned. “Their place has type of flip flopped through the years.”
Garney gave an instance of the kind of difficulty relating to defining human driver necessities in an autonomous world. “How do you accomplish sure inspection rules if there’s not a driver to conduct them?” he mentioned.
Dealer transparency nonetheless there
An merchandise that has been on the agenda beforehand and stays there however with little motion is the request by the Proprietor-Operator Impartial Drivers Affiliation (OOIDA) and the Small Enterprise in Transportation Coalition (SBTC) for higher transparency from brokers.
The transparency request would require brokers to supply an digital copy of a document of a transaction the 3PL managed inside 48 hours of the deal.
It went by means of an NPRM in 2024, a reopened remark interval in February 2025. However FMCSA then signaled it was delaying any additional motion.
The merchandise on the Unified Agenda suggests a complement NPRM will start this month, which is already greater than half over.
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