WHERE REGULATORY AGENCIES GET THEIR POWER.


Remember your high school civics lessons? The U.S. Constitution puts Congress in charge of law- making. Congress passes laws laying out the statutory charter for each federal agency – what the agency can do and must do. Congress may separately weigh in on specific issues, expanding or refining the scope of an agency’s jurisdiction on that issue.


The Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 contains FMCSA’s charter. There, Congress clearly listed what it felt were the shortcomings in motor carrier safety to that point, which it directed FMCSA to address. Statutory charters also include limitations to agency powers. Ultimately, the U.S. Constitution provides a limit to federal actions. Court decisions can also define the scope of a regulatory agency’s authority, and Congress is quite willing to block agency actions of which it doesn’t approve.


SOURCES OF PROPOSED REGULATIONS.


So, do “nameless federal bureaucrats” sit around and devise the next set of trucking regulations? No. At FMCSA, staff recommendations can result in proposals, if they meet with approval from the agency administrator and the USDOT secretary. Similarly, private entities, such as motor carriers, trucking trade associations, and commercial vehicle enforcement agencies can petition for rulemaking with FMCSA to advance a rule or regulatory change.


By far, Congress is the primary source of federal regulations for FMCSA and any regulatory agency. Congress triggers federal regulations in three ways:


• The agency’s statutory charter, in which Congress has said what the agency must do; • Congressional legislation directing the agency to adopt a specific regulation; or


• Congressional legislation adopting a program, for which the relevant agency must then write regulations for implementation.


Look first to Congress to see what is ahead in regulation.


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