California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

After eight years, Greg’s hard work finally paid off for our heavy-haul industry members that move in and around the City of LA. According to Greg’s detailed report on page 46, the news is very good because the changes the City agreed to are clearly a victory for Greg, his program, our industry, the property owner, and ultimately, the taxpayer. These are the highlights of those changes relating to extra legal load movements:

CARB’s Anti-diesel Agenda Get Side-swiped by CPUC Report

So, how many times have you heard the saying, or actually the leading question, “You know what the first three letters in diesel are?” Well, there appears to be growing “trouble in paradise,” as the green-ified Western Europe has adopted this fuel as the fuel of choice there, and engine car manufacturers are hot to sell the fuel efficiency and green nature of new hi-tech diesel-powered passenger vehicles.

This is a must-watch video. It must be hard for left-leaners to watch this without saying, “Screw you, you got yours, now I want mine—even if it’s yours!” Tax the F…en rich and whoever else, so we can retire at 50 with no worries; we deserve it! However you cut this all up, it’s just another term for entitlement.

Dan Bertrand of Armstrong & Associates Insurance Services contacted me early last month and said that he really wanted to recognize two CDTOA Broker members who have both been very involved with the truck broker regulation over the last two years. Dan wanted to make sure that Fred ReCupido, owner of Terra Trucking in Banning and Dan Ugalde, Ugalde Trucking in Orange Co. were the first two brokers to receive the new CDTOA Sponsored ($15,000) Broker Bond.

The following is a summary of the legislative and legal issues we are hopefully addressing at the next Board meeting in Sacramento this month. We have invited all local CDTOA members. This is a short list of issues and does not include all the details but it should give members and readers enough insight to understand the almost unmanageable amount of issues we are addressing for just our industry.

I’m excited to read about the growing congressional bipartisan support to block EPA’s regulatory authority over greenhouse gases (CO2) using a host of new environmental laws and budget cuts! It’s about time the newly elected Congress eliminates all these “make-work programs” under the guise of saving the planet, when it really is to grow public employee unons. What a fraud global warming and PM regulations have become!
See full stories on pages 14 and 15. See especially the story on page 14, note the last paragraph about the EPA employees union meeting with lawmakers to argue against cuts in EPA funding. CARB should be next.

All I can say is cut-baby-cut!

By George Nicolas Ifft - The Washington Post, November 22, 19AlGore

The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulate, at Bergen, Norway.

Public Angry Because Cowboys Stadium Exempt From Rolling Blackouts. What - Shouldn’t They be More Outraged by the Global Warming Scams?

The week long party that traditionally leads up to the Super Bowl was brought to a standstill in Dallas the week of the Super Bowl by a winter storm that coated the area with snow and ice and plunged temperatures into the single digits. Around Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, wind chill readings even hit the subzero mark and the region was expected to receive up to an inch more of snow prior to the game. Some are laughingly saying, welcome to Green Bay and Pittsburg!

In early February DMV announced in their Vehicle Industry News publication, VIN 2011–05 the new registration fees are due on or after May 2, 2011. The County Transportation Projects Fee (CTPF) of $10 will be collected for motor vehicles, Commercial Vehicle Registration Act (CVRA), Non-CVRA, Permanent Fleet Registration (PFR), horseless carriage, and historical vehicles, registered with addresses in these 5 bay area counties: 1. Alameda 2. Marin 3. San Francisco 4. San Mateo 5. Santa Clara.

Still a Death Blow to Many

I hope all of you read Betty’s story on page 24 and the Oakland story below. True to her words about all of our efforts trying to amend and even stop these CARB regulations, we have given it 110%. And make no mistake: we will continue to argue against regulations based on hugely overstated industry emissions, B.S. scientific health effects, confusing and exaggerated mortality or deaths, all associated with PM2.5, including diesel-related PM2.5.

Many finally working to rein in another rogue federal agency

Congressional Reps. Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Martha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), and Ted Poe (R-Texas), share much in common besides their political affiliations. All three represent energy producing states. Therefore all three represent constituents who are under siege because of new taxes and regulations imposed by an unelected federal bureaucracy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). All three have introduced bills to rein in this job-killing, taxing, wealth-distributing federal agency.

So, to show you how absurd the whole diesel emissions and global warming scam is, I'm including a recent article I read on BBC about the coldest December in over 100 years of record keeping in England.

If you watched the CARB Board hearings to adopt the final changes to the on-road diesel truck and bus rule (and off-road rules), you had to notice the number of people, school children, and activists claiming to come from the Oakland area. Betty touched on this last month and again this month, and we think it is important that we continue to expose the truth about the lies and deception about dirty air, diesel, and “environmental racism.”

Just before the end of last year, I received an email with an attachment that contained the entire DBE guidelines document that Caltrans has been working on for at least 18 months, to our knowledge. The document is called “A Guide to Counting Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Participation (DBE), DBE Trucker, Broker, Manufacture, Supplier, and DBE in Professional Services.”

1. The proposed rule would limit drivers to either 10 or 11 hours of driving time following a period of at least 10 consecutive hours off duty. FMCSA is considering both limits.
2. It would limit the standard “driving window” to 14 hours, while allowing that number to be extended to 16 hours twice a week.
3. Actual duty time within the driving window would be limited to 13 hours.
4. The drivers would be permitted to drive only if 7 hours or less have passed since their last off-duty or sleeper-berth period of at least 30 minutes.
5. The 34-hour restart would be retained, subject to certain limits: the restart would have to include two periods between midnight and 6 a.m. and could be started no sooner than 168 hours (7 days) after the beginning of the previously designated restart.
6. The definition of “on duty” would be revised to allow some time spent in or on the CMV to be logged as off duty.
7. The oilfield operations exception would be revised to clarify the language on waiting time and to state that waiting time would not be included in the calculation of the driving window.

AB 145: Sponsored by CDTOA, Effective January 1, 2011

Assembly Bill 145 was a concept that was discussed and refined in 2009 by the CDTOA Board, membership (including many brokers), staff, and lobbyist. Once all the elements and wish lists were refined, the legislative language was submitted in early 2010 as a bill. During the 2010 legislative session, the bill successfully advanced through the legislative process with overwhelming bipartisan support and virtually no opposition. In fact, the bill did not receive a single “no” vote at any point and was signed into law by the Governor on September 29, 2010, effective January 1, 2011.

We have partnered with a variety of new businesses and resources, including a new bonding company who is offering CDTOA members exclusive “Broker Bond Pricing” plus an additional 10% discount.

Dan Bertrand, with Armstrong & Associates Insurance Services has worked tirelessly to make sure we had a top-rated surety company committed to providing a bond solution at a reasonable price. On pages 9 and 10, we are including the letter from Dan at Armstrong and a Broker Bond Application. The letter and application was sent out to both members and non-members on December 8th, we’re reprinting them again here, plus the application will also be available on our website. Don’t be late to get your bond; it’s a $5,000 fine and a misdemeanor if you don’t!

At the Annual Board Meeting in November, a law firm which specializes in construction payment resolution, called Carno & Carlton, LLP presented a program to the CDTOA EC and Board.

We have worked with a variety of dump truck brokers and members from around the state on many programs to incentivize membership into CDTOA for the dwindling dump truck subhauler industry. In most cases, we have seen limited results from the many ideas that were implemented.

From WITCHES, FLOODS, AND WONDER DRUGS: Historical Perspective on Risk Management

A Classic 1980 Assay by William C. Clark, an ecologist and environmental policy analyst

For several centuries spanning the Renaissance and Reformation, societal risk assessment meant witch hunting. Contemporary accounts record wheat inexplicably rotting in the fields, sheep dying of unknown causes, vineyards smitten with unseasonable frost, human disease and impotence on the rise. In other words, a litany of life’s sorrows not very different from those which concern us today.

Superior Helps Market AADT

Taking a little creative liberty with Winston Churchill’s stirring comments in a speech about England’s air force (RAF) pilots in 1940 to beat back the Nazi air force in the Battle of Britian, my spin though is aimed at unions, the environmental movement, with the help of Silicon Valley elitists, and Hollywood/West LA types, all who have succeeded to putting uber-liberal democrats in control of virtually all politics here in California. It will be very interesting to see what this state will get from those elected officials that clearly have an agenda far different from the vast majority of American’s.

Columnist George Will wrote an interesting editorial on November 4th titled “Are you listening, now? Refering to President Obama, Mrs. Pelosi and the democrat’s loss of the Congressional House. This part of his editorial here in my opinion accurately explains the real differences between President Obama, the San Francisco/Hollywood liberal crowd, unions and the green movement  from the rest of us, especially moderates.

There are two very interesting and related articles in this month’s magazine focusing especially on our friends at CARB. The first on page 10 is a very interesting article in a series by Bakersfield based reporter Lois Henry. Lois does a nice job of exposing the lies, deception and disinformation (propaganda) spewing from both CARB and EPA relating to deaths associated with PM2.5 and especially diesel emission related PM2.5.

As you all know, CDTOA decided to strongly support Steve Cooley for state attorney general. We personally attend a number of fund raiser for Mr. Cooley and brought some large members in tow.