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Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (TX-36), a member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, today announced that he has introduced H.R. 3282, the ELD Extension Act of 2017, legislation that would provide for an additional two year delay before mandatory implementation of Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) on all American freight trucks.  Under current law and regulation, the mandate is scheduled to go into effect December 18^th, 2017 – just five months from now. 

“While technology like ELD’s have great promise, I didn’t come to Washington to force those ideas on small businesses – and neither did President Trump” said Rep. Babin.  “If trucking companies want to continue implementing and using ELD’s, they should go right ahead.  But for those who don’t want the burden, expense and uncertainty of putting one of these devices into every truck they own by the end of the year, we can and should offer relief.”

The MAP-21 highway bill (Public Law 112-141) signed into law by President Obama in 2012 (prior to Rep. Babin’s service in Congress) included a mandate for the installation and usage of Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) on all trucks no later than two years after the final rules for such a mandate were issued.  While the mandate was crafted with the good intention of modernizing America’s freight truck network and helping truckers and their employers comply with Hours of Service (HOS) and other regulations, it is now abundantly clear that more time is needed, especially for small trucking companies and independent drivers who will be disproportionally affected by the cost of compliance with these new rules.

“We appreciate Congressman Babin’s leadership on this issue. While we still believe the ELD mandate should be outright repealed, FMCSA simply isn’t ready to implement this rule,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer said. “Congressman Babin’s bill would provide more time for the agency to address a number of significant unresolved concerns identified by stakeholders.”