Year-End Trucking Regulatory Report

We hope you have kept up with regulatory issues affecting your business over the past year and have found ICSA’s Regulatory Roundup a good tool for doing so. As we start 2025, consider this a status report on rules that were implemented, rules that were proposed and are going through the rulemaking process and rules that are in limbo, mostly as agencies wait for guidance from the incoming Trump Administration.

Speed limiters, automatic emergency braking, side underride guards, hair and saliva testing for drugs, UIDs (Unified Identifier Devices) and broker transparency… each were considered and some actually proposed during 2024, but not finalized or enacted, by federal agencies such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). All the while, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to sit on California’s request for a waiver to fully implement that state’s Advanced Clean Trucks and Advanced Clean Fleets regimes, although the agency did provide California a waiver authorizing the California Air Resources Board’s clean (electric) car mandate.

With but a few days left before Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025, there may yet be some last-minute regulatory actions under the Biden Administration. The later the hour, though, the more likely that any substantive regulations that will negatively impact our industry will be delayed, reviewed and potentially terminated by the new Administration or the incoming Congress. Here is a summary of what happened in 2024 and what may take place in 2025:

Instead of completing action on the “big ticket” items that caught the attention of trucking, in 2024 FMCSA took steps to improve motor carrier safety ratings by:

• Updating its Safety Measurement System (SMS)
• Hearing from the public on the Safety Fitness Determination process
• Addressing weaknesses in the DataQs program
• Improving the Crash Prevention Determination Program

FMCSA also shared motor carrier concerns with fraud, broker practices, and cargo theft by:

• Increasing the security of FMCSA’s online registration system and database
• Establishing clear requirements on broker financial responsibilities
• Proposing equal and timely access by carriers and shippers to broker transaction records

Full implementation of several FMCSA actions, such as broker financial responsibility, has been delayed until FMCSA completes its online registration system revisions.

In 2025, federal agencies may again tackle speed limiters, automatic emergency braking, side underride guards, hair and saliva testing, UIDs and implement broker transparency. Of those, automatic emergency braking has the greatest potential for adoption.

After January 20, however, expect the Trump Administration to immediately issue a moratorium on all new regulations and agency decisions. This has been done by the Reagan, Clinton, Bush II and Obama administrations upon taking office. The prohibition of new regulations has generally lasted for 60 days, allowing the incoming government to review pending regulatory actions. Meanwhile, with one political party having a majority in both Congressional bodies as of January 6, 2025, recently adopted regulations may be targeted under the Congressional Review Act, potentially repealing or withholding funding for adopted measures.

Moving out of 2024 and into 2025 is a time of transition for all businesses, but most especially for trucking. ICSA closely monitors and weighs in on potential regulations on behalf of its members and produces the monthly Regulatory Roundup for your benefit. Have concerns about a particular regulation or proposal? Let us know your concerns and thoughts at contact@safecarriers.org.