The Editorial Board
California is squeezing the life out of small, independent trucking companies.
Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed three bills into law that further tighten the state’s grip on the industry’s throat. As always, large companies will be better able to absorb the fees, regulatory costs and compliance burdens than small companies, which could be forced out of business.
Senate Bill 210 creates a new emissions inspection program for trucks. The law requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to establish a Heavy Duty Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program for trucks and other heavy vehicles. CARB will also create licensing standards for the inspection and repair shops, as well as a new compliance certificate that drivers will be required to keep with the vehicle. New fees will be deposited into the new Truck Emissions Check Fund.
California air regulators have already mandated that the trucking industry convert to cleaner engines. The 2008 Statewide Truck and Bus Rule required all heavy-duty trucks to have new or retrofitted engines as a condition of operating on California roads. This enormous compliance expense earned the industry only the slightest nod from Sacramento lawmakers. “SB 210 acknowledges the investments made by the trucking industry to upgrade truck fleets,” a Senate analysis of the bill noted, before claiming that the bill “leverages this investment to create improved time and cost efficient compliance measures.”
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The fees understand can be hard on smaller companies or independent Truck Drivers.
However, having been driving on the Freeways in California I’ve noticed a lot of Diesel Trucks who don’t meet the Air Quality Standards and in one particular instance was unable to clean the soot from badly performing Diesel engine out of my car. My car smelled of unburnt diesel fuel for weeks! Maybe this is the norm to consider costs of operation above air quality and vehicle maintenance? Don’t know. Maybe it is a joy to see a truck crash because of poor maintenance saying its more cost effective to replace a truck than do proper maintenance? Don’t know. Should this bill keep small companies ability to pay fees…Yes the people writing the bill and supporting the bill need to and must keep small companies and especially independent drivers from being pushed out of business due to over priced regulatory fees.
Either way, the majority of the trucks who are violating the air quality of California are from Mexico.