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A dispute over a $500,000 contribution to American Trucking Associations’ efforts to defeat proposed changes to the federal hours-of-service regulations resulted in the defeat of the Truckload Carriers Association’s new budget.

The author of a proposal to prevent the Department of Transportation from issuing a final hours-of-service regulation this year today asked trucking executives to lobby Congress in support of the measure.

The Truckload Carriers Association's board of directors on Tuesday approved a plan that would establish a new financial relationship between the conference and American Trucking Associations.

The Senate threw a major roadblock in the Department of Transportation’s drive to institute new hours-of-service rules for truckers.

The leadership of the Truckload Carriers Association is expected to overwhelmingly sign off on a plan June 20 that calls for the group and its members to pay American Trucking Associations a monthly fee instead of requiring its members to join the federation.

The Department of Transportation says it has no data to support its call for using electronic data recorders to monitor whether long-haul and regional drivers are complying with federal hours-of-service regulations.

Trucking should not expect a slackening of commercial vehicle safety inspections and compliance reviews anytime soon, warned a federal official who oversees the industry.

The owners, operators and lessors of intermodal equipment need to agree on who should be responsible for the safety of the equipment, or the government will do it for them, a top Department of Transportation official warned.

Proposed changes to the hours-of-service regulations would cause increased pollution, road rage and divorces but fail to accomplish the stated goal of improving highway safety, according to testimony at a June 15 hearing.

Several key lawmakers are expected to address the board of directors of American Trucking Associations during its summer leadership meeting in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Va., June 21 to 23.