Small trucking businesses may be given a reprieve from the ELD mandate.
Small businesses may be spared from the FMCSA’s electronic logging device (ELD) mandate. The Owner Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA) has requested that small trucking businesses be exempt, providing the business has a safety rating above “unsatisfactory”. If the proposal gets approved, small businesses would be excluded from the mandate for the next five years. Twenty-five members of the U.S. Congress are backing the proposal.
The OOIDA is not alone.
Six states agree that the ELD mandate needs either more exemptions, more flexibility, or just plain gone. Tennessee, South Dakota, Missouri, Idaho, Wyoming, and Alabama have all introduced legislature to hinder the ELD mandate.
What are they doing?
They are suspending the funds needed to enforce the mandate. South Dakota and Missouri are all for repealing the mandate entirely, citing invasion of privacy.
South Dakota, Missouri, Tennessee, Wyoming and Idaho have all proposed bills against ELD’s citing the harm it will do to small business, invasion of privacy, and an increase in consumer prices. Alabama is also joining in and offering proposals for more flexibility in the mandate.
Idaho legislature has specifically introduced a proposed bill to permanently exempt agricultural and livestock drivers whose home base resides within their borders.
Comment session for small business ELD exemption is now closed.
The FMCSA open a period for comment, regarding the small business ELD exemption request. The comment period closed February 1st. Now we will wait to see what the outcome will be.
Watch here for updates.
Stay tuned, as we will update this blog as decisions regarding ELD exemptions roll in.
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