2019 Advocacy Victory

SC&RA Supports FMCSA with Amicus Curiae Brief

SC&RA, along with PODS Enterprises, LLC, Ryder System Inc., and Western States Trucking Association, filed an amicus curiae brief in December in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 2785 and Everardo Luna, et al., v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, et al. The Association filed the brief in support of FMCSA’s primacy in the regulatory oversight of trucking safety and its decision to preempt California’s meal and rest break rules. In 2018, FMCSA announced that it had granted a petition determining that the State of California’s laws requiring minimum meal and rest breaks for truckers operating in the State of California are preempted by federal hours-of-service laws (49 U.S.C. § 31141 ). The determination by FMCSA came in response to widespread apprehension from drivers, concerned citizens, and industry stakeholders. In particular, SC&RA’s argument on federal primacy over motor carrier safety was viewed within FMCSA as “key and essential” in granting this much-needed exemption. SC&RA maintains that failure to support the FMCSA’s Determination of Preemption regarding California’s meal and rest break rules would have far reaching effect on FMCSA’s authority to regulate trucking safety and threaten steps that had been taken legislatively over the past thirty years to establish a national uniform system of motor carrier safety.