UP FRONT, Continued from page 7
So, with more than 25,000 readers of the Arkansas Trucking Report, we’d like to invite your company, whether in Arkansas or not, to experience the ‘power of association’ by joining the Arkansas Trucking Association in 2014.
As you know, freight doesn’t stop at the state line, and neither does the work of our association. Our reach starts in Little Rock and goes all the way up to Washington, D.C., where many of the issues affecting your environment and our members are decided.
The Arkansas Trucking Association offers a wide variety of services to its member companies and executives. Plus, we are engaged in advocating specific legislative and regulatory achievements to improve the operating climate for our member companies. Consider some our successes over the past year.
1. Company owners are finally assured that when they buy a new or used truck or semitrailer in Arkansas, they can do so tax-free, as the Arkansas General Assembly passed measures to make this important exemption permanent. This sales tax exemption will save trucking com- panies about $21 million per year at current sales volumes.
2. Arkansas will find it more difficult to reclassify an owner-operator who gets hurt on the job and files a claim that he was actually an employee of the trucking company.
3. An owner-operator will now have the same opportunity as a company driver to obtain workers’ compensa- tion insurance without jeopardizing his or her status as an independent contractor.
4. The Arkansas Highway Department and the trucking industry will jointly work to improve commercial vehicle safety enforcement, training and education and promote ways to move freight on our highways more efficiently with the creation of a $2 million annual fund that will, for the first time, dedicate money for these purposes.
5. By 2016, all commercial trucks will be required to install electronic log- ging devices to track the number of hours a driver is behind the wheel thanks to the work of Arkansas’s congressional delegation.
6. Trucking companies will have access to a national database in 2014 to identify any person who has pre- viously tested positive on a DOT mandated drug and alcohol pre- employment exam, again, thanks to the work of Arkansas’s congressional delegation.
One hundred and thirty-five (135) companies were represented by 322 attendees at the 2013 Arkansas Trucking Association Business Conference in Little Rock, Ark. (Make plans to join your colleagues May 21-23, at the Branson Hilton and Conference Center.)
The Arkansas Trucking Championship hosted 121 drivers and 83 technicians in the Arkansas Truck Driving Championship, the Arkansas Technician Championship and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Inspection Competition, organized by the Arkansas Highway Police competition.
The ATA Safety Management Council (SMC) consists of 77 companies and 166 executives who regularly meet on issues related to state and federal regulations, driver issues and safety compliance. The SMC met eight times in 2013, on such topics as pre-
employment screening program, highway bill, post-crash inspection, Level 1 Inspection demonstration, medical card requirements, hours-of-service and OSHA compliance.
The ATA Maintenance & Technology Council (MTC) is comprised of 72 companies with 188 representatives. The ATA MTC met eight times in 2013 and covered topics such as: technician training sessions; natural gas technology; collision avoidance demonstrations; reduced stopping distance and diesel particulate filter technology.
ATA’s 40 Under 40 Council currently has 34 transportation executives representing 17 different corporate
members.Members of this council must be nominated by their company and approved by the ATA Board of Directors. The Council met three times during 2013. Speakers included political consultant Bill Vickery, ATA President Lane Kidd, ABF Freight System President and CEO Roy Slagle and Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Mark Pryor, Andy York.
The ATA Self-Insurers’ Fund continues to provide affordable and reliable workers’ compensation insurance to member trucking companies, providing them insurance coverage for their drivers throughout the United States.
We invite you to visit www.
arkansastrucking.com to review even more services and benefits of our organization. Join your fellow trucking companies and private fleets in what we believe, is one of the most powerful trucking associations around!
Lane Kidd is president, Shannon Newton is vice president and Sarah Sheets is director of operations of the Arkansas Trucking Association.
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ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 6 2013
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