The Louisiana Motor Transport Association (LMTA) has joined forces with a broad group of state and national trucking associations from across the country in support of a comprehensive policy blueprint to eliminate bad actors who exploit regulatory gaps, undermine safety, and create unfair competitive advantages in the commercial trucking industry. The action plan, The Fight for Fairness and Safety: Paving the Way for a Trucking Resurgence, addresses seven critical areas where fraudulent and illegal operators undercut law-abiding businesses, endanger public safety, and damage the reputation and morale of America's professional truck drivers.

The Trucking Association Executive Council (TAEC), which developed the action plan through a special task force, is comprised of trucking leaders from coast to coast. The initiative comes as the trucking industry nationwide and in Louisiana faces daunting freight demand, frivolous attacks from plaintiff’s trial lawyers, and unfair competition from illegal operators who manipulate licensing systems, engage in freight fraud, tamper with safety records, and operate outside legal boundaries.

"Louisiana’s trucking industry is built on the hard work of family-owned businesses, independent owner-operators, and professional drivers who play by the rules. But bad actors who exploit loopholes in our regulatory systems are putting everyone at risk… This is unacceptable,” said Renee Amar, Executive Director of the LMTA. “We are focused on solutions and resolute on seeing them implemented. By doing so, we will save lives, save small businesses and set the table for a trucking resurgence in Louisiana.”

The Trucking Resurgence action plan identifies seven major vulnerabilities that bad actors exploit:

1. CDL Integrity – Closing loopholes in commercial driver licensing
2. MCMIS Overhaul – Fixing America’s broken trucking safety data system
3. Cross-Border Integrity – Assuring workforce integrity at our borders
4. Non-Domiciled CDL Reform – Strengthening oversight and enforcement
5. English Language Proficiency – Closing critical CDL safety gaps
6. Combating Trucking Fraud – Addressing broker and carrier fraud schemes
7. Electronic Log Integrity – Ending ELD manipulation and hours-of-service fraud

The report emphasizes that most of the solutions are immediately actionable and do not require long, drawn-out legislation or rule makings. Most involve technology-driven solutions, including AI-powered data analysis to detect fraudulent patterns, integrated databases to prevent operator schemes, and enhanced verification systems to ensure regulatory compliance. These reforms would not create new burdens for legitimate operators but would leverage existing data more effectively to identify and eliminate bad actors.

Rickie Guillory, LMTA’s 2025-2026 President of the Board, added, "The LMTA represents the safest and most reliable fleets in the state, but we cannot compete with those who simply don’t follow the laws. It not only compromises highway safety, but it is also demoralizing to our professional drivers who are on the roads everyday doing the right things and moving this state forward. We have a duty to fight for them, and this action plan will level the playing field. 

The report builds on recent federal actions, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's order strictly enforcing English language proficiency requirements, which resulted in more than 5,000+ drivers being placed out-of-service for safety violations, and another order cracking down on the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, many of which were issued improperly or illegally. The TAEC recommendations would extend similar accountability measures across all identified problem areas.

The trucking industry in Louisiana represents 1 in 18 jobs, or over 89,730 careers. In Louisiana, 78 percent of communities exclusively depend on trucking to move their goods. This network in Louisiana, along with the TAEC task force that developed these recommendations, brings extraordinary depth of experience to this work.

“Louisiana’s freight economy can’t thrive without a system that is fair, predictable, and safe for everyone on the road,” said Amar. “These reforms give our state a real chance to reduce costs, improve safety, and support the men and women who keep goods moving every day. It will take commitment from industry leaders, state agencies, and our partners throughout the supply chain, but the payoff for Louisiana families and businesses will be significant.”

The LMTA will continue to work with the TAEC as well as federal and state officials to ensure that progress is made on each of these areas.  Regardless of how long or any challenges that exist, our association remains committed to paving the way for a trucking resurgence.

The full report is available at www.truckingresurgence.com