October 3, 2008

Road Wranglers is Theme of 2008 CMCA Annual Convention, October 16-18

The CMCA 2008 Annual Convention will be at the Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch in Avon. The hotel design was inspired by the grand lodges of the national parks, ideally situated on Beaver Creek Mountain. To make your hotel reservations call the Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch 1-800-241-3333. Online registration for the convention is available at www.cmca.com.

 

Warning: Careful About IRP and IFTA Records

Both the International Fuel Tax Agreement and the International Registration Plan provide that their member jurisdictions must require carriers based with them to maintain records to back up what the carriers report on their fuel tax returns and applications for IRP registration. These requirements may vary in detail by state or province, but in general a carrier is to keep records of all of its vehicles’ movements, trip by trip, so that an auditor – who, under either IRP or IFTA, is auditing for all the jurisdictions – can tell where the trucks went and how many miles they accrued in doing so in each state or province. Records of fuel purchases, although not needed for IRP, are critical for IFTA. IRP and IFTA auditors regularly report that they find carrier trip records inadequate to corroborate the tax returns and applications the records are supposed to support.

One of the commonest troubles, apart from the incompleteness of records, is that many carriers’ systems are based solely on dispatch records. These regularly indicate where a truck driver was told to go, but they do not show where he actually went, what routes he traveled, and what miles were accrued. States and provinces vary in the degree to which they insist on audit that records show where the truck went, but IFTA and IRP rules not only give a state plenty of authority to hold a carrier to the requirement to keep track of actual vehicle movements, but also provide for extremely heavy penalties when the state determines that records are simply inadequate to conduct a proper IRP or IFTA audit.

What can carriers do? Clearly, paper trip sheets, once the only real option, and still acceptable if they’re complete and accurate, are not ideal. At the other end of the spectrum technically, a properly calibrated GPS system can certainly provide acceptable records of vehicle movements, though supplemental records may be necessary in some urban settings. And even dispatch records can often provide a foundation for an adequate IRP and IFTA recordkeeping system, provided that a carrier has a policy in place – preferably a written policy – that a driver that departs from dispatched routes provides the carrier with a corrected trip record, that then gets into the carrier’s IRP and IFTA system. Courtesy ATA State Laws Newsletter

 

Occupational Accident Coverage

Owner-Operators enjoy substantial freedom to run there own business. Though as a driver they are exposed to a multitude of safety risks each day that are inherent to the trucking industry. Occupational Accident coverage is one good way to address this safety issue.

Compared to individual workers compensation or skyrocketing health insurance, the premium for Occupational Accident through Continental Owner Operators, Ltd. is relatively inexpensive. No deductible applies, and once a covered claim is reported you are assigned an insurance adjuster to help you through the entire process.

In addition, COOL offers non-occupational coverage which provides a small benefit amount should you become hurt outside of dispatch hours and not performing the duties of a trucker, such as playing with your child in you yard.

The CMCA and the Western Trucking Associations Executive Council, which represents the 15 western states, endorse COOL. For more information visit their website at www.coolmembers.com or call:
800-909-6966.

 

Eight Training Classes Announced for Western Slope Carriers

CMCA will host the following training courses in Fruita at the CSP Office (554 Jurassic Ct).  Click here for registration form.

DOT Compliance Audit 101
October 10 8:30 -12:30

Accident Investigation
October 16 8:30 -12:30

SAFESTAT
October 24 8:30 - 4:00

DOT Files/Records
October 31 8:30 -12:30

REMINDER!

Chains or other ATDs must be on I-70 bound trucks Now.

This is for I-70 only, between Morrison and Edwards. Please get your drivers ready for winter. Chain Tip Brochures are available at CMCA. Call for yours today!

Wall Street "Bailout" May Provide Excise Exemption for APU Purchasers

Among part of the Senate package, which has been identified as a “bailout” for Wall Street, is an exemption from the excise tax for auxiliary power units (APUs). The exemption would apply to new APUs when they are bought with new trucks.

New truck purchases include a 12 percent excise tax, and new APU purchases with new trucks also include an excise tax equal to 12 percent of the APU’s retail price. With the provision rolled into the $700 billion bailout plan, buyers of new trucks wouldn’t owe the 12 percent excise tax normally applied to the APU.

The Bailout bill has now passed both houses of Congress and been signed into law.

Councilwoman Pushes Aurora Truck Permit Proposal

A city councilwoman with the City of Aurora has resurrected a proposal that had been previously considered relating to a permit for trucks traveling on certain streets or arterials in the city.

While the proposal would exempt trucks with pickups and deliveries along or adjacent to these roadways, the proposal would impose a fee of $750 weekly permit or $20,000 annual permit per truck for use of streets such as Hampden and Quincy in the city of Aurora.

The fee appears to be targeted at blocking trucks from operating on streets that lead to a waste site that is in Arapahoe County, just outside of Aurora. If the proposal were passed it would conceivably force carriers seeking to use that waste site or those serving other businesses within parts of Aurora or communities adjacent to the city, to make significantly longer trips to circumvent those roadways or pay exorbitant fees for the use of them. In either case trucking operators and businesses would bear the costs for this action. Further, the proposal would translate into additional fuel use as well as vehicle emissions.

CMCA and others are opposing this proposal. We believe that the establishment of a truck permit fee for conventional trucks would establish a terrible precedent and adversely affect interstate and intrastate commerce in the state.

Anti-Business Initiative Pulled from Ballot

Four ballot initiatives that would have devastated businesses in our state, were pulled from the November ballot yesterday based on a compromise between certain business leaders and organized labor. The four union-supported initiatives that were removed measures were Amendments 53, 55, 56 and 57.

Amendment 53 would have held executives criminally liable under state law for corporate wrongdoings; Amendment 55 would have require businesses to have "just cause" for firing workers; Amendment 56 would have forced businesses with 20 or more employees to provide health-care coverage; and Amendment 57 would have allow injured employees to seek damages outside the workers' compensation system.

Under the deal, unions will remove their measures from the ballot in exchange for several million dollars to help them fight Amendment 47, the right-to-work measure, and two other initiatives.

The deal was reached after a prolonged period of negotiations between business and labor leaders. Governor Ritter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Senator Ken Salazar, and other elected officials weighed in on the matter because of concerns as to the impact that these initiatives may have on Colorado’s business environment. Courtesy of the Denver Post