[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8] [Senate] [Pages 10561-10562] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. Klobuchar): [[Page 10562]] 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 Unfortunately, the current regulations are long outdated.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. ____________________