Jim Mullen, the Acting Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), is leaving his post on Friday, August 28.
Jim Mullen took the Agency’s leadership in October 2019 after FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez left his post. Before, Mr. Mullen was the department’s chief counsel.
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) confirmed that Mullen leaves FMCSA at the end of August by the email to Today’s Trucking. “Wiley Deck, currently a senior policy advisor to the secretary and former FMCSA director of government affairs, will assume the role of deputy administrator of FMCSA.”
The FMCSA has not provided any additional information, and Mr. Mullen himself has not made a public statement yet. As well as Elaine Chao, there is no public statement from the Secretary of USDOT.
During the “Mayday” truckers protest, on May 20, Mr. Mullen was present at the meeting in White House hosted by Mark Meadows, White House Chief of Staff, and trucking protest representatives and ideologists – “CJ” Sergey Karman, the founder of MTGAA and Ezlogz CEO and entrepreneur, and Mike Landis, representative of the United States Transportation Alliance (USTA).
On the meeting’s agenda were the following issues:
- Freight brokers transparency, and how FMCSA can make transparency rules enforceable.
- Price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Double and co-brokerage points.
According to “CJ” Sergey Karman, Mark Meadows asked Jim Mullen to give three specific recommendations on how the FMCSA intends to fix the freight brokers issue.
On May 28, during the Intermodal Association of North America webinar, Jim Mullen said that FMCSA didn’t get any charges on brokers’ transparency.
“In fact, we don’t have a specific complaint that a broker failed to abide by 371.3, in a situation in which the motor carrier hadn’t waived, contractually, the ability to get that financial data that the regulation encompasses.”
But after, Mullen added: “We don’t expect this to go away anytime soon, and we take our regulatory obligations very seriously.”
Nevertheless, After the White House meeting, the Department of Justice (DOJ) had begun two investigations: New Jersey US Attorney Craig Carpenito opened an investigation into freight broker price gouging, and DOJ Antitrust Division is working on federal disclosure requirements under 49 CFR § 371.3 (c) by freight brokers.
On August 19, after the announcement of Jim Mullen resignation, FMCSA DOT asked for the public comments on brokers’ rulemaking on the Federal Register. The comments need to be submitted by October 19, 2020.
For more details, follow the link.
