TXTA Supports Comprehensive Plan to Eliminate Bad Actors and Restore Fair Competition in Trucking 

State Trucking Associations from Across America Release Blueprint to Combat Fraud, Enhance Safety, and Pave the Way for a Trucking Resurgence. 

Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Trucking Association (TXTA) has joined forces with a broad group of state and national trucking associations from across the country in support of a comprehensive policy blueprint to eliminate bad actors who exploit regulatory gaps, undermine safety, and create unfair competitive advantages in the commercial trucking industry. The action plan, The Fight for Fairness and Safety: Paving the Way for a Trucking Resurgence, addresses seven critical areas where fraudulent and illegal operators undercut law-abiding businesses, endanger public safety, and damage the reputation and morale of America's professional truck drivers. 

The Trucking Association Executive Council (TAEC), which developed the action plan through a special task force, is comprised of trucking leaders from coast to coast. The initiative comes as the trucking industry nationwide and in Texas faces daunting freight demand, frivolous attacks from plaintiff’s trial lawyers, and unfair competition from illegal operators who manipulate licensing systems, engage in freight fraud, tamper with safety records, and operate outside legal boundaries. 
The Trucking Resurgence action plan identifies seven major vulnerabilities that bad actors exploit: 
 

1. CDL Integrity – Closing loopholes in commercial driver licensing 
2. MCMIS Overhaul – Fixing America’s broken trucking safety data system 
3. Cross-Border Integrity – Assuring workforce integrity at our borders 
4. Non-Domiciled CDL Reform – Strengthening oversight and enforcement 
5. English Language Proficiency – Closing critical CDL safety gaps 
6. Combating Trucking Fraud – Addressing broker and carrier fraud schemes 
7. Electronic Log Integrity – Ending ELD manipulation and hours-of-service fraud 

The report emphasizes that most of the solutions are immediately actionable and do not require long, drawn-out legislation or rule makings. Most involve technology-driven solutions, including AI-powered data analysis to detect fraudulent patterns, integrated databases to prevent operator schemes, and enhanced verification systems to ensure regulatory compliance. These reforms would not create new burdens for legitimate operators but would leverage existing data more effectively to identify and eliminate bad actors.  The report builds on recent federal actions, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's order strictly enforcing English language proficiency requirements which resulted in more than 5,000+ drivers being placed out-of-service for safety violations, and another order cracking down on the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, many of which were issued improperly or illegally. The TAEC recommendations would extend similar accountability measures across all identified problem areas.  

In a statement, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) agreed. “I applaud the steps Secretary Duffy has taken to step up enforcement against fraudulent licenses from Mexico, especially after a series of fatal crashes caused by foreign truck drivers who should have never been behind the wheel in the first place. We must crack down on illegal drivers and licenses to keep Texas roads safe.”  

The trucking industry in Texas represents 833, 790 jobs and 82% of communities exclusively depend on trucking to move their goods. This network in Texas along with the TAEC task force that developed these recommendations brings extraordinary depth of experience to this work. 
TXTA will continue to work with the TAEC as well as federal and state officials to ensure that progress is made on each of these areas.  Regardless of how long or any challenges that exist, TXTA remains committed to paving the way for a trucking resurgence. The full report is available at www.truckingresurgence.com.