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YOUR ASSOCIATION AT WORK
NEW INFOFLASH SECTION HIGHLIGHTING IMTA EFFORTS
As a member of the IMTA, the dues investment you make to the association is extremely important and one of our top priorities is to be good stewards of that investment. Each and every day, the IMTA is committed to working on behalf of the members and being your voice and your advocate is something that we do with great pride, commitment and dedication. We are dedicated to providing you a high return on your investment and hope this new section will provide you with insight you may not be aware of.
"Your Association at Work" will be dedicated to highlighting the variety of efforts that are implemented on behalf of IMTA members on a weekly basis. We are hopeful that this new column will provide you with some valuable information and even more importantly, give you confidence and pride in the Iowa Motor Truck Association and its ongoing efforts in representing Iowa's trucking industry.
Your support and involvement as a member is critical to our ongoing success. We are extremely grateful for your membership and thankful for the tremendous support that our almost 700 members provide not only through dues but also by taking the time to be engaged, involved and active in our efforts. We look forward to another successful and effective year in representing Iowa's trucking industry and look forward to our continued work with each and every one of you.
Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday and enjoy a sampling of what you will find in this new section of the InfoFlash.
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Since November 9
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, IMTA staff has been making contact with members of Iowa's Congressional delegation and personally congratulating them on their recent victories. Senator Grassley and Congressman Young, King, Blum and Loebsack were all successful in their re-election efforts. Along with the personal congrats, we have also used this as an opportunity to highlight our ongoing priorities in DC such as Hours of Service legislation and the F4A legislation with all of these legislators, as well as Senator Ernst.
- On the state level, over 10 meetings have been held over the last 2 weeks with Iowa lawmakers and Republican leaders to discuss priorities for the upcoming legislative session. Given that Republicans now have control of both chambers and the Governor's office, there is an expectation that some positive things can be done to further ensure that a pro-business environment can prevail.
- Additionally, IMTA staff was involved in the following efforts over the last two weeks:
- Sharing the Road activities to over 50 high school students
- 2 Presentations made to business groups on the value of the trucking industry
- 15 Member visits
- 4 Meetings with regulatory officials on a variety of topics
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FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS OVERTIME RULES
[ATA]
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Judge Amos Mazzant of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the changes to the so-called "white collar" overtime exemption that were set to go into effect on December 1.
Judge Mazzant held that the states that filed suit against the new rule were likely to succeed in their challenge, because the new salary threshold adopted by the Department of Labor was so high as to effectively supplant the "duties test" that Congress intended to govern the exemption.
The preliminary injunction suspends the rule changes pending further proceedings in the lawsuit. As a practical matter, the preliminary injunction means that the new salary threshold is unlikely to go into effect on December 1 as anticipated. A copy of the order is available
here.
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ATRI: AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES REVOLUTIONIZING TRUCKING, HURDLES REMAIN
[CCJ]
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Per the American Transportation Research Institute, autonomous trucks will drastically change the trucking industry, with implications ranging from major regulatory reform to greater efficiency and safety, as well as infrastructure updates, an altered legal landscape and new labor market.
Roadblocks remain, however, before the U.S. trucking industry sees any substantial uptake of the technology, the report notes. The biggest hurdle is needed infrastructure upgrades, which ATRI says are necessary to allow the best operation of autonomous trucks. ATRI cited the need for smoother highways, better signage and lane markers and highway-to-vehicle communication instruments. The report notes such investment is mostly out of the hands of private sector companies like motor carriers and falls squarely on the shoulders of the public sector.
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COMBAT HUNGER SUCCESS THANKS IN PART TO IMTA MEMBERS
[IMTA]
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IMTA members once again stepped up to help with Star 102.5's 26
th
Annual Combat Hunger Food Drive.
This community-wide food and fund drive is always held the Thursday and Friday before Thanksgiving to provide hungry Iowans with food during the harsh winter months and to increase awareness of Iowa's critical hunger problem.
Businesses and schools sign up to hold a food and fund drive during the month of November. Once the donations are ready to be collected, IMTA members sign up for the call to action.
IMTA members who donated trucks and/or drivers included: Casey's General Stores, FedEx Freight, Gatr Truck Center, O'Halloran International, Two Men & A Truck, Walmart Transportation, and XPO Logistics. Tom Goddard, of Hy-Vee, Inc. also volunteered to ride with a driver to help load the truck.
Thank you to all the volunteers who helped this year, because of your time and efforts, many Iowan's will have a little brighter holiday season with less worry of how they will feed their families.
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| IMTA HOLIDAY OFFICE HOURS
The IMTA Office will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, November 24 & Friday, November 25. Regular office hours will resume on Monday, November 28 at 8:00 AM.
If you have a regulatory
emergency, please contact Don Egli via
email or (515) 991-5630.
Safe travels and enjoy the holiday!
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CORNERSTONE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM
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