[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 88 (Monday, June 14, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4886-S4887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. Klobuchar):
  S. 3483. A bill to amend section 139 of title 49, United States Code, 
to increase the effectiveness of Federal oversight of motor carriers, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that 
I believe will ensure that our motor vehicle operators, particularly 
those smallest businesses who rely on only one or two vehicles, are no 
longer subject to the nefarious practices of unscrupulous logistic 
companies and brokers.
  The Bureau of Transportation Statistics has indicated that by 2020, 
freight volume will double in this country. A critical component of 
moving that vast expansion of freight to distributors and retailers 
will be motor carriers--that is, trucks.
  However, for years, trucking operators, particularly the smallest 
companies who not only perform the back-breaking work of transporting 
freight across the country, but simultaneously run their own 
businesses, have fallen victim to fly-by-night brokers and 
intermediaries who connect the truck operators with shippers who need 
goods moved, then defraud the operators of their payments before 
vanishing in the night, depriving the operator of any legal recourse in 
an effort to recover their losses.
  How can they do this? Aren't these actions criminal? Unfortunately, 
the current regulations are long outdated. Beyond a prospective broker 
being required to pay a ten thousand dollar bond, there is little in 
the way of registration requirements or government oversight under 
present law. According to trucking experts, a broker can rake in 
revenues far in excess of that ten thousand dollar upfront payment in 
less than a month, allowing them to disappear in the night, losing 
their bond but more than making up for it in revenues stolen from hard-
working truck operators who are left with nothing to show for their 
delivery, and no way to recoup those losses. The time has come to 
provide these operators that chance to defend themselves.
  That is why I have taken this opportunity to introduce the Motor 
Carrier Protection Act. This legislation will bolster the rather meager 
framework of regulations now in place to guard against deceitful 
behavior from the handful of freight forwarders who engage in these 
criminal practices. The bond necessary to serve as a broker will no 
longer be a paltry 10,000, but will be elevated to 100,000, a more 
reasonable amount reflecting the reality of today's shipping 
environment. It will also expand the requirements to become a licensed 
broker, giving the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to 
opportunity to collect licensing fees from brokers, intermediaries and 
freight forwarders--using those fees to fund greater enforcement 
capabilities. As a result of this legislation, the Federal Government 
will be able to revoke operating licenses for those brokers that do not 
meet these revamped strictures. These new licenses must be renewed 
annually. With these improvements to existing regulation, motor vehicle 
operators will no longer wonder if they will receive payment for a job 
well done.
  Why is this legislation necessary? We must be mindful that these 
scams are not easily discouraged. For example, in Georgia, one group of 
individuals operated twelve different freight broker companies over a 
period of 3 years--continuously evading law enforcement and the 
truckers they defrauded by changing the name and location of their 
business--while never paying the truck operators who actually moved the 
freight. In the end, this racketeering enterprise collected over 
$500,000, most of which was due to the operators. In fact, it was the 
diligent efforts of Georgia law enforcement that broke up this 
operation, not the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, who the 
government has charged with preventing these sorts of fraud.
  We must update these regulations, and provide FMCSA with more tools 
to prevent these kinds of criminal activities. I urge my colleagues to 
support this legislation as we move forward.

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