A broker financial responsibility rule has been delayed until 2026, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officially announced.
FMCSA’s final rule, which will move the compliance date of its broker regulation from Jan. 16, 2025 to Jan. 16, 2026, is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
The agency’s 2023 final rule takes several steps to improve broker security regulations, including the suspension of operating authority if the available financial security falls below $75,000. FMCSA said it is unable to keep the 2025 compliance date because its new registration system will not be ready.
“As the online registration system is not expected to be available before Jan. 16, 2025, FMCSA extends the compliance date to provide regulated entities time to begin using and familiarizing themselves with the system before compliance is required,” the agency wrote.
OOIDA calls delay ‘unacceptable’
Last month, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed comments to the agency in opposition to a delay.
“We alerted FMCSA nearly a year ago that ‘the Unified Registration System remains a work in progress and there have been numerous problems with URS rollout historically.’ We mentioned skepticism about the final rule providing sufficient time to complete the URS rulemaking process before the January 2025 compliance date for the Immediate Suspension of Broker/Freight Forwarder Operating Authority provision. We are disappointed these warnings proved accurate,” OOIDA wrote.
With instances of fraud continuing to rise, OOIDA told the agency that truck drivers can’t afford another year to go by without stricter regulations on brokers.
“Delaying this aspect of the rulemaking will allow brokers to continue stealing transportation services in excess of the bond amount,” the Association wrote. “This is simply unacceptable, as freight fraud remains commonplace within the industry.”
In its latest notice, FMCSA said it initially believed the existing systems could be used to accept the required filings.
“However, through its stakeholder engagement efforts, FMCSA determined that adding the filing functionality to its legacy systems for use in the interim would likely create confusion and additional training burdens for filers, who would be responsible for learning to use two different filing systems in quick succession,” the agency wrote. “Therefore, FMCSA determined that stakeholders would benefit from delaying the compliance date until after the planned rollout of the new online registration system.”
Broker transparency proposal
FMCSA also recently announced a separate proposal related to brokers. The agency plans to beef up existing broker transparency regulations and prevent those regulations from being evaded.
The proposal would require brokers to keep their records in an electronic format and to provide a copy of those records within 48 hours if requested. The proposal also affirms that brokers have a regulatory obligation to provide transaction records, which would contain information about charges and payments connected to the shipment with a description, amount and dates, as well as any claims connected to the shipment.
A public comment period on the proposal is open through Jan. 21, 2025. As of Monday, Dec. 30, nearly 1,800 comments had been filed.
OOIDA is encouraging all of its members to file comments.
“We have until Jan. 21, so get on there and tell them how this affects you,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh said. “Tell them how brokers are making you exempt your rights from 371.3, or not showing you or threatening to blacklist you. Give real-world experiences, and if nothing else, just say, ‘I support the broker transparency rule.’”
To file a comment, click here or go to Regulations.gov and enter Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0257-0001.
In addition, OOIDA is planning a “fireside chat” to discuss the broker transparency issue with truckers at 7:30 p.m. Central time on Jan. 8. You can sign up for the virtual event here. More details about the event will be released soon. LL
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