Transportation law will prevent overreach

It is likely that the trucking industry will soon have some clarification on laws affecting meals and breaks for drivers. Since 2014, the issue has been complicated as the state of California enacted its own separate laws from those of federal regulations applicable to interstate commerce. Therefore, a trucker who was delivering shipments of goods from California to Texas had to abide by different rules depending upon the state he or she was located within at any given time.

If additional states decided to pass their own meal and break laws, drivers could face the possibility of a Pandora’s box situation. Imagine the chaos for them and for the trucking companies!

The new regulations currently making their way through Congress would nullify any separate state laws and streamline interstate shipments to be subject only to federal regulations. It’s important to note, however, that these rules only apply to interstate trucking. Intrastate shipments (let’s say a delivery from San Francisco to Los Angeles) would still be subject to California state law, depending on where the container originated. (Containers arriving through ports from oversea locations are still a matter of interstate commerce, since the items are technically crossing a state border.)

We’ll keep our eyes on this bill, as the outcome will greatly impact the industry.