06/15/2026
🏛️ TIA Files a Petition with FMCSA
Recently, we reported that ATA and TCA are urging Congress to implement stronger oversight and a functioning safety rating system. Now, a third major industry player has joined the effort — TIA (Transportation Intermediaries Association), representing brokers and 3PLs.
Unlike ATA and TCA, TIA went directly to FMCSA. On June 9, the association submitted a Petition for Rulemaking.
The trigger? A Supreme Court decision.
Following the unanimous ruling in Montgomery v. Caribe (9–0), brokers lost a key layer of protection against lawsuits. As a result, brokers and shippers may now be held liable for accidents involving the carriers they hire. TIA describes this burden as “untenable.”
⚖️ What TIA Is Asking FMCSA For
1. A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard
A single federal standard defining the “reasonable steps” brokers and shippers must take when selecting a carrier. The goal is to create one nationwide benchmark instead of 50 different interpretations across state courts.
2. A Public High-Risk Motor Carrier List
A publicly available list of high-risk carriers. Under TIA’s proposal, carriers would be included if they exceed intervention thresholds in three or more BASIC categories within the SMS system, or in any of the critical categories:
• Unsafe Driving
• Crash Indicator
• HOS Compliance
• Vehicle Maintenance
🚩 Key Takeaways
▪️ This is only a petition, not a new regulation. FMCSA may approve it, reject it, or take no action at all.
▪️ The petition is not yet publicly available on regulations.gov. It will only become public if FMCSA issues a notice in the Federal Register and opens a comment period.
▪️ The biggest obstacle is the proposed public carrier list. The FAST Act of 2015 explicitly prohibited FMCSA from publishing carrier percentile rankings by category. As a result, creating a public High-Risk List would likely require legislative changes, not just a rulemaking petition.