Posts by MTAC Staff

From Hartford Business Journal. In its early days, Paine’s Inc. Recycling and Rubbish Removal had a different idea of waste-to-energy. “When my grandfather started the business, he picked up garbage from two private schools, and fed it to the pigs at the family farm,” said the trash-hauler’s current owner, Michael Paine, of the company circa…

From FMCSA. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today released additional online resources for Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holders, employers, state driver licensing agencies, medical review officers, and substance abuse professionals regarding the upcoming implementation of its CDL Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse in January 2020. The new clearinghouse resource webpage…

From Connecticut Energy Marketers Association (CEMA). On Monday, March 18, the Environment Committee will hold a public hearing on a bill that would impose a tax on fossil fuels sold in the state: Raised Bill 1064, An Act Establishing a Carbon Price for Fossil Fuels Sold in Connecticut. Heating oil, propane, diesel, gasoline and even…

From CT News Junkie. As the legislature gets closer to approving tolls, it’s also distancing itself from the process by debating legislation that would create a transportation authority, like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “I don’t understand why anyone wants to be like the MTA in New York,” Joe Sculley, president of the Motor Transport Association…

From Hartford Courant. A public hearing Monday on a bill to create a state transportation authority served as a warmup for a much bigger hearing coming this week on the divisive topic of electronic highway tolls. The state’s truckers’ association believes the authority would be a front for tolls. A key legislator said that is…

From Waterbury Republican American. Naugatuck businessman John Pruchnicki guesses that highway tolls could cost his petroleum transportation business $200,000 to $300,000 a year. Without an actual tolling plan, he can only ballpark an estimate of how much the fleet of 22 tanker trucks operating out of the Ansonia and Bloomfield terminals of Coastal Carriers of…

From FMCSA. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today announced a final rule streamlining the process and reducing costs to upgrade from a Class B to Class A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). By adopting a new Class A CDL theory instruction upgrade curriculum, the final rule will save eligible driver…

This week, MTAC members Jim Rizzo from Gabrielli Trucks and Luis Tejeda from Freightliner of Hartford testified in support of HB 6771, which would “permit motor vehicle dealers to register large commercial motor vehicles online and thereby create efficiencies and make the process more convenient.” Jim Rizzo said, in part, “Currently, we are only allowed…

This week, MTAC President Joe Sculley testified in opposition to a bill that would require truck-specific GPS devices to be in use on all trucks with a GVWR of more than 10,000 pounds. Sculley’s testimony said the bill was likely introduced in response to trucks driving through no-through truck zones in certain municipalities. He said…

This week, MTAC President Joe Sculley testified in opposition to a bill that would add a $10 surcharge on to the cost of a non-consensual tow. Sculley said that the bill is an attempt to circumvent the regulation of rates for non-consensual tows. He said that the regulation of non-consensual tows is an important aspect…