Welcome to your Department of Transportation update. This week's top story comes from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who just welcomed four new confirmed officials to lead critical DOT divisions. On October 7th, the Senate confirmed Michael Rutherford as the first-ever Assistant Secretary for Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy, along with Gregory Zerzan as General Counsel, Derek Barrs as FMCSA Administrator, and David Fink as Federal Railroad Administration head. Secretary Duffy praised these accomplished leaders for their expertise in advancing America's transportation and infrastructure needs.
But that's just the beginning of a busy month at DOT. The department issued an Interim Final Rule effective October 3rd that dramatically reshapes the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program. This rule removes race and gender-based presumptions of disadvantage in federal contracting, citing constitutional concerns from ongoing litigation. While the change aims to address legal challenges, it's creating uncertainty for contractors and subcontractors working on federally funded projects nationwide.
Secretary Duffy also announced emergency action on September 26th to restrict non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses after an audit uncovered states illegally issuing licenses to foreign drivers. The new rule requires non-citizens to meet stricter requirements including employment-based visas and mandatory federal immigration checks using the SAVE system. This comes after a series of fatal crashes involving non-domiciled drivers raised serious safety concerns.
On the trucking front, there's good news for America's drivers. DOT unveiled a pro-trucker package delivering over 275 million dollars to expand truck parking nationwide. This includes 180 million for Florida alone to add 917 new spaces along the I-4 corridor. The package also withdraws the proposed speed limiter mandate and slashes 1,800 words from federal regulations. As OOIDA President Todd Spencer noted, these transformational actions address years of trucker concerns about parking shortages and regulatory burdens.
For American citizens, these changes mean safer roads through stricter licensing and improved freight efficiency. Businesses face new contracting rules requiring immediate attention, while states must adapt to federal enforcement on immigration checks and DBE compliance.
Looking ahead, watch for continued implementation of these October rules and potential legal challenges to the DBE changes. For more information, visit transportation dot gov.
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