California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

The California Supreme Court recently ruled in the Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court (Hohnbaum), Case # S166350, in a case that affects millions of hourly workers by clarifying the meal and rest break requirements for employers.

According to legal advisors this decision does not supplant the Dilts, et al. v. Penske Logistics, LLC, et al., Case No. 08-CV-318 JLS, which is winding its way through the federal courts.  Penske won a first round decision using the federal preemption argument under the FAAA Act in 1994, the same underpinning that CCTA is using in its suit against the CARB truck and bus rule.

Tucked away amid the California Air Resources Board’s 72 greenhouse gas reduction strategies to implement the Schwarzenegger administration’s AB 32 program is a plan to lower the carbon content of motor fuels—gasoline and diesel—that has the potential to increase diesel prices by 50 percent, kill 617,000 jobs and reduce the state’s tax take by $5 billion a year, all by 2020.

Those are some of the conclusions reached in an 80-page analysis of the agency’s proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), released recently by the California Trucking Association (CTA). The study was paid for by CTA and a coalition of industry organizations including the California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA).

Editor’s note: There are currently legal challenges filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging the latest rulemaking. Both trucking industry and safety advocacy groups are challenging the aspects of the latest rulemaking.

Some would say the long battle over federal hours-of-service rules is “the never-ending story,” but we know the story had its beginning in 1935 with the passage of the Motor Carrier Act and the latest chapter was written by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in December 2011 with the publication of a new set of modifications. 

By Shauna Krause & David Kalb, Capitol Services, Inc.

It’s a short question with a long important answer that will impact licensed contractors throughout the State of California. While every Capitol Connection is a ‘must read’ for contractors, this is information you absolutely don’t want to miss.

By Lorraine Yapps Cohen - San Diego Conservative Examiner

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) met on Thursday, May 24. On the agenda was discussion toward deciding where and how to spend the billions to be raised from cap-and-trade carbon trading in the state.

In case there was any doubt at all, the California General Assembly has proven it is certifiable by passing a change in contracting law that seeks to gain information about contractors’ sexual orientation for construction, purchases of materials, supplies, equipment and professional services contracts.

Really?  Really.

Editor’s note: Dr. James Enstrom recently published a rebuttal to stories which appeared in the Orange County Register and dozens of other publications.  The articles made health claims about Southern California air quality, which Dr. Enstrom shows cannot be substantiated by the facts

By JAMES ENSTROM / Member, research faculty, UCLA School of Public Health and has been conducting epidemiologic research there since 1973.

The April 25, 2012, Register article “Smog report: L.A. region still among the nation’s worst” is highly misleading because it uncritically relies upon two reports that exaggerate the air pollution problem in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The air pollution problem is also exaggerated by the California Air Resources Board, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the two agencies that have responsibility for air quality in Southern California.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is backing off requirements for diesel particulate filters (DPF) on emergency response vehicles (fire trucks and ambulances) due to complaints about reduced engine performance, and in some cases, outright shutdowns during emergency runs.

The agency announced the proposal to drop DPF requirements in a Federal Register notice June 8th .
(gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-06-08/pdf/2012-13087.pdf )

CCTA has teamed up with PrePass – the nation’s weigh station bypass system - to offer our members and AADT clients a special discount for PrePass bypass services.

PrePass is the nation’s premier pre-clearance system, allowing participating transponder-equipped commercial vehicles to bypass designated weigh stations, port-of-entry facilities and agricultural interdiction facilities. Cleared vehicles travel at highway speed, eliminating the need to stop and improving operational efficiencies by saving time, money and fuel. PrePass is currently operational at over 300 locations in 31 states and continues to grow.

According to the FMCSA, carriers that are pre-cleared at weigh stations save at least 5 minutes and $8.68 with every bypass. Additionally, each bypass saves carriers nearly half a gallon of diesel. By avoiding weigh station stops and idling in queues, carriers using PrePass also reduce carbon emissions by lessening fuel consumption and the associated pollutants. Over 425,000 truck drivers nationwide are saving time, money and fuel every day with PrePass.

Washington, D. C.—The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) gave two Congressional committees an earful this month in response to requests for information about job killing regulation.

In a 13-page letter, Pete Ruane, ARTBA’s President and CEO, outlined the challenges facing the construction industry through ever-more oppressive regulations from federal agencies from EPA, DOT, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.  The requests for information about job-killing rules came from Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-San Diego) Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending.

After 60 years as an independent construction trade association, the Engineering General Contractors Association of San Diego has agreed, with 90 percent approval of its members, to join the Associated General Contractors of America San Diego Chapter, Inc. (AGC)

AGC President Dave Carlin, Soltek Pacific, and EGCA President Kyle Nelson, Cass Construction, announced May 25th that the AGC and the EGCA have agreed to a strategic partnership that will result in the assimilation of the EGCA and the AGC.

Although the CCTA is not a collection agency, we can guide are members with proper collection techniques, and lead them to the legal experts for advice and support in collection of past due money.

A message from Hector Leon -

(Riverside/San Bernardino Chapter Chairperson and President of Dirt Patrol Inc.)

I would like to share with you just one of many techniques on how to protect yourself against contractors that just refuse to pay, and prey on small owner-operator companies that are clueless of the proper paperwork needed to be filed or just afraid of losing their customer if they do prelim a job. Keep in mind that if you do prelim a project, you should be ready to fax prelim releases to your customers A.S.A.P., when they request them from you. Because your prelim release can delay everybody’s money and that right there, my friend, will make your customer furious. Your release of couple thousand dollars for example, can be holding up your customer’s $300,000 for that month. Another point I wanted to mentioned is be careful with the type of releases you sign, there are different types that can get you in trouble; make sure you educate yourself properly or contact me and I can help guide you. That’s it for now, I don’t want to confuse or overwhelm you with different types of methods of collecting your money at this time. Let’s start slowly and I will teach you what the next step is to collecting your money if prelim fails. Stay tuned for our next month’s CTN issue, for part two of collection techniques.