Out Like A Lion?

The waning weeks of calendar year 2015 witnessed a remarkable convergence of regulatory and legislative activity affecting the transportation industry. For instance, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued final rules regarding electronic logging devices and driver coercion, an overhauled Unified Registration System was implemented, the Federal Aviation Administration implemented a new registration system for airborne drones, and shippers are preparing to begin verifying the gross mass of cargo containers in light of the International Maritime Organization’s rule effective July 1, 2016. Moreover, the U.S. Congress stepped in and intervened on positive train control and hours of service, and, of course, enacted the 600 page highway bill known as the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (the FAST Act), which itself not only provided for highway funding but also contained a potpourri of items affecting the transportation industry, ranging from opening the doors to hair follicle drug testing to enabling military veterans to more easily obtain commercial driver’s licenses in certain circumstances. Any of these subjects—and many others—merit substantial analysis.