Graves tells ATA membership to prepare for regulatory challenges

“Whether you liked the outcome of the 2008 elections or not, the policy and regulatory reach of the federal government into your businesses will surely grow over the next five to 10 years,” ATA's Bill Graves said.

By KEVIN JONES
The Trucker Staff

10/5/2009

LAS VEGAS — The near future will be transformational for trucking, and everyone in the industry needs to be aware of and concerned about the current political and regulatory environment, or so members of the American Trucking Associations were told at the opening of this year’s Management Conference and Exhibition here.

President and CEO Bill Graves got a laugh out of industry executives when he explained that ATA selected Las Vegas for the meeting because it was as far away from Washington — without being in California — that they could get. But, based on his remarks, he wasn’t entirely kidding.

“Whether you liked the outcome of the 2008 elections or not, the policy and regulatory reach of the federal government into your businesses will surely grow over the next five to 10 years,” Graves said. “If we don’t proactively develop industry solutions, someone else surely will.”

Challenges include the need to continue to move 70 percent of the nation’s freight while reducing trucking’s impact on the environment; the need to travel more miles in a growing and ever more congested country while improving safety; the need to transition to new energy sources — and pay for it; the need to improve efficiency while at the same time improving service to customers; and the need to attract a new generation of drivers “who will be subject to greater scrutiny in every aspect of their performance, whether it be their backgrounds, their preparation and training, or their personal conduct.”

“Change is difficult at any moment, but it will be challenging for this industry in this transformational time,” Graves said, noting the “alphabet soup” of government agencies that have an “increasingly intrusive” say in running a trucking company.

“The question is how you’re able to deal with this myriad of government mandates and still find some enjoyment in running your business, provide quality service to your customers and, heaven forbid, make enough profit to make it worth your while,” he said.

Borrowing a line from Will Rogers, Graves said “the trucker has to be an optimist, or he wouldn’t still be trucking.”

Graves went on to give President Obama credit for his energy, his forward-looking approach to governing and his communication skills. The problem, Graves explained, is that there is too much talk going on in Washington and not enough action. He took the administration and Democratic leadership to task for focusing on complicated issues such as health care reform and climate change, and putting off action on setting the nation’s transportation priorities.

“So forgive me if I’m frustrated that Congress seems to work on things that it really doesn’t need to at the moment, and doesn’t work on things it needs to,” he said.

Congress simply lacks the political will to raise the fuel tax to pay for the estimated $930 billion over the next five years to fix the highway infrastructure, Graves said, advising ATA members to “stay tuned” to the infrastructure debate, though he doesn’t anticipate action on the plan anytime soon.

As to the recent distracted driving summit organized by the Department of Transportation, Graves suggested that the administration likely will have “a much broader and more aggressive strategy” than ATA’s voluntary best-practice guides.

“For many of you, this will be an early test of how willing you’ll be to figure out an industry-driven solution — a solution that very likely will wind up being the lesser of multiple evils — but nonetheless will allow our industry input into regulations that will affect our in-cab driver operations for years to come,” Graves said, calling the administration and Democratic policies “bad for U.S. business, bad for jobs and for prosperity.”

He likewise was critical of Republicans, a party “that has nothing to offer but ‘just say no’ as a response.”

ATA members should be proud of developing a pro-active trucking agenda, and moving past saying “no” to offering solutions “and leading with our chin,” Graves said.

“Congratulations on surviving 2009,” he concluded. “Best wishes on a much brighter 2010.”

Kevin Jones of The Trucker staff can be contacted to comment on this article at kevinj@thetrucker.com.

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