October 7, 2014

The Honorable Tom Latham

Chairman

Subcommittee on Transportation,

Housing and Urban Development,

and Related Agencies

House Committee on Appropriations

2358A Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Ed Pastor

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Transportation,

Housing and Urban Development, and

Related Agencies

House Committee on Appropriations

2358A Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Latham and Ranking Member Pastor:

We write in support of Section 425 of H.R. 4745, and urge that this provision, which prohibits

the Department of Transportation from moving forward with increases in the minimum level of

financial responsibility for commercial property and passenger motor carriers, including private

school bus operators and other private carriers, be included in the final Department of

Transportation appropriations legislation for Fiscal Year 2015.

Our organizations represent thousands of individual businesses who operate trucks and buses

located in every state and congressional district. These businesses, the vast majority of which

are small businesses, are both critical to our nations economy and committed to safety on our nations highways. With this perspective, we are concerned about the negative impacts that an increase in financial responsibility requirements will have on the ability of our member

companies to remain in business, and on highway safety.

The Department announced in April 2014 that it was moving forward with the development of

regulations to increase minimum financial responsibility requirements for truck and bus

companies. This is despite the fact that the Departments own data shows that less than 0.2 percent of truck-involved accidents result in damages that exceed the current requirements. On

the bus side, the Department has not even analyzed passenger motor carrier data or accident

claims history. The determination did not include any consultation with insurance experts or

study of actuarial data, nor did it consider the impacts of higher insurance costs on truck and bus

companies, especially small businesses and private fleets.

What is especially troubling about this rulemaking is that the Department cannot show any

connection between higher minimum insurance requirements and improved safety performance

by a truck or bus company. Indeed, with the Department already referencing insurance increases

close to 500 percent, the resulting premium increases per truck or bus will lead to a significant

number of our member companies significantly downsizing their fleets or leaving the industry

altogether.

We are proud to represent thousands of safe truck and bus companies and thousands of

professional drivers with millions of accident-free miles behind the wheel. These are the

companies and drivers we need on the road. Policies that simply lead to higher operating costs,

with no resulting safety improvements, only serve to drive them away from the truck and bus

industries.

This rulemaking action, described as high priority, has been taken up by the Department without direction from Congress, and is moving forward while other actions with a direct impact

on motor carrier safety languish with little to no action by the Department. At the very least, the

Department should halt this action until the issue can be fully examined by Congress through

hearings and legislative direction, as occurred when the current minimum financial responsibility

requirements were enacted into law.

Section 425 would provide Congress with an opportunity to conduct oversight hearings and

debate on a topic that will impact hundreds of thousands of motor carriers, both for-hire and

private. As your Committees work to finalize Fiscal Year 2015 appropriations legislation for the

Department of Transportation, we urge you to include the Houses Section 425 in the final agreement.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association

National School Transportation Association

United Motorcoach Association

American Bus Association

National Federation of Independent Businesses

Petroleum Marketers Association of America

American Truck Dealers

National Ready Mixed Concrete Association