FMCSA Denies Exemption Request for Freight Forwarders MAP-21 Bonding Exemption
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration denied a bonding exemption request from the Association of Independent Property Brokers and Agents, the agency said March 31 (here). The trade group asked the FMCSA to exclude "all property brokers and freight forwarders" from new $75,000 bonding requirements in 2013 (see 13122421). The new bonding requirements were part of the implementation of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). The trade group in 2013 also filed a lawsuit against the provision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which stayed the case until the FMCSA ruled on the request, the agency said. The AIPBA also filed a separate suit earlier this year with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, said the FMCSA.
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The agency "does not have the authority to disregard Congress’s directive in the revised statutory provision by exempting all property brokers and freight forwarders from the bond requirement," it said. "Essentially, AIPBA’s opposition to the increase in the bond amount is a challenge to Congress’s judgment that the increase is necessary and appropriate, indeed in the public interest." Even if the agency had the authority, "an industry-wide exemption for brokers and freight forwarders from the $75,000 bond requirement is not in the public interest," said the FMCSA.
(Federal Register 03/31/15)