On Thursday, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) applauded efforts to crack down on freight fraud.
In a press statement, OOIDA said it supports the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act, HR 8505, introduced by U.S. Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Mike Ezell (R-MS) that would enhance the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration oversight of freight fraud. The legislation restores and codifies FMCSA’s authority to issue civil penalties fraudsters and requires that brokers, freight forwarders, and carriers register with FMCSA with a valid business address.
“Freight fraud committed by criminals and scam artists has been devastating to many small business truckers simply trying to make a living in a tough freight market,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “OOIDA and the 150,000 small-business truckers we represent applaud Representative Holmes Norton and Representative Ezell for their bipartisan leadership to provide FMCSA better tools to root out fraudulent actors, which are also harmful to consumers and highway safety. Because of the broad industry support for these commonsense reforms, we hope this bipartisan legislation will move through the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee without delay.”
The bill has been endorsed by the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), American Trucking Associations’ Moving & Storage Conference (ATA-MSC), Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA), the National Association of Small Trucking Companies (NASTC), Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), Institute for Safer Trucking (IST), and Road Safe America.
“FMCSA receives thousands of complaints every year from Americans who are the victims of fraud in the shipment of household goods by licensed entities,” Holmes said. “This bill would provide FMCSA with explicit authority to assess civil penalties for violations of commercial regulations, and crucially, to withhold registration from applicants failing to provide verification details demonstrating they intend to operate legitimate businesses. Americans moving across state lines need to be able to have confidence in FMCSA-licensed companies transporting their physical belonging.”