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The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) – the only organization exclusively representing transportation intermediaries of all disciplines doing business in domestic and international commerce – released the following statement after the Department of Labor issued its final rule altering the overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The rule includes two-tiered increases to the minimum salary threshold and the threshold for highly compensated employees (HCE) as well as automatic updates to both thresholds.

“TIA’s membership is composed of 70 percent small businesses throughout the United States,” said Anne Reinke, president & CEO of TIA. “Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy and the logistics industry. Under President Biden’s Department of Labor, we have seen several rules that will have major impacts on businesses, whether it be employee classification, overtime rules, or the attacks on the independent contractor status, small businesses are under attack. This will not just increase costs for small businesses but ultimately the consumers as well. The TIA will continue to advocate for our members and allowing our members to thrive without burdensome regulations.”

The minimum salary threshold will be increased to $43,888 on July 1, and then to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. This represents over a 60 percent increase over the current threshold of $35,568. The Department clarified that the first increase updates the minimum salary threshold using the DOL’s current methodology, which was used in the 2019 Trump administration-era overtime rulemaking to set the current standard. The second increase then implements the DOL’s new preferred methodology, which sets the minimum salary threshold to the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest wage Census region.

The HCE threshold will be raised to $132,964 on July 1, and then to $151,164 on Jan. 1, 2025 — a 71 percent increase from the current threshold of $107,432. The first threshold is based on the current methodology, while the second threshold is set to the 85th percentile for full time salaried workers nationally.

The final rule also implements automatic updates to both the minimum salary threshold and the HCE threshold, both of which will be increased every 3 years.

The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) is comprised of several Conferences and Committees which help guide external positions while shaping internal policies. One area in which TIA sees as a major area of growth is the Airfreight Logistics Conference. This is quickly becoming a popular Conference, not only for members who are already in that field but TIA members that want to expand their current operation and enter into a new mode of moving freight.

The Airfreight Logistics industry is an exciting segment of the third-party logistics industry, with great potential growth areas for 3PLs to facilitate the transportation of airfreight. The Conference will look to broaden its influence and knowledge of Airfreight logistics by engaging our members with great speakers and a program which adds value to our member companies.

While the details remain in negotiations, I am excited to announce that on our next quarterly call we will have a speaker from Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Indirect Air Carrier Program (IAC) to provide a current overview of the industry from a regulatory perspective and how this will change in the future. Additionally, we will engage with the speaker with questions on the future on air cargo and screening programs. The call will be open to non-conference members, this means that members of TIA that are not yet apart of this Conference will have the ability to join and be part of this important meeting.

The IAC is just one of the many associated programs at TSA, including:

• 100 Percent Screening Requirement;
• Air Cargo Screening Technology List;
• All Cargo Aviation Programs;
• Consent to Search or Inspection;
• Certified Cargo Screening Program; and
• Known Shipper Management System.

As part of the strategic plan for TIA over the next years, TIA will look to increase its role in the international logistics arena, by not only being the U.S. Member of FIATA, but serving as one of the voices to provide industry stakeholders and the general public with the necessary information and resources. As always, we look forward to hearing from our members on how TIA can provide more value for your company.

Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a marathon markup on the “Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act,” this 16 hour markup ended in a mostly partisan bill which will likely be changed further when its brought to the full House for a vote and even further if the Senate takes up the legislation.

This legislation becomes a section into a larger package called the “Moving America Forward Act,” this package is a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package.

• The INVEST in America Act, a nearly $500 billion investment to rebuild and reimagine the nation’s transportation infrastructure by fixing our crumbling roads and bridges, improving safety, reducing gridlock, and putting the U.S. on a path toward zero emissions from the transportation sector by cutting carbon pollution, investing in public transit and the national rail network, building out fueling infrastructure for low- and zero-emission vehicles, and deploying technology and innovative materials. The INVEST in America Act is fueled by American workers and ingenuity thanks to strong Buy America provisions and labor protections.
• Invests in schools with the “Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act”, which funds $130 billion in school infrastructure targeted at high-poverty schools with facilities that endanger the health and safety of students and educators. This investment will help students get back to school and create more than 2 million jobs to help workers get back to work.
• Addresses structural challenges and upgrades childcare facilities by leveraging a 5-year, $10 billion federal investment to generate additional state and private investments in making sure that childcare settings are safe, appropriate, and able to comply with current and future public health directives.
• Invests over $100 billion into our nation’s affordable housing infrastructure to create or preserve 1.8 million affordable homes. These investments will help reduce housing inequality, create jobs and stimulate the broader economy, increase community and household resiliency in the face of natural disasters, improve hazardous living conditions, and increase the environmental sustainability of our housing stock.
• Protects access to safe drinking water by investing over $25 billion in the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and other programs to ensure all communities have clean drinking water and to help remove dangerous contaminants like PFAS from local water systems.
• Modernizes our energy infrastructure for a clean energy future by investing more than $70 billion to transform our electric grid to accommodate more renewable energy, expand renewable energy, strengthen existing infrastructure, help develop an electric vehicle charging network, and support energy efficiency, weatherization, and Smart Communities infrastructure.
• Delivers affordable high-speed broadband Internet access to all parts of the country by investing $100 billion to promote competition for broadband internet infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities, prioritizing those with persistent poverty. Gets children connected to remote learning, closes broadband adoption and digital skills gaps and enhances payment support for low-income households and the recently unemployed.
• Modernizes the nation’s health care infrastructure by investing $30 billion to upgrade hospitals to increase capacity and strengthen care, help community health centers respond to COVID-19 and future public health emergencies, improve clinical laboratory infrastructure, support the Indian Health Service‘s infrastructure, and increase capacity for community-based care.
• Modernizes and strengthens the United States Postal Service by investing $25 billion to modernize postal infrastructure and operations, including a zero emissions postal vehicle fleet, processing equipment and other goods.
• Promotes new renewable energy infrastructure by incentivizing the development of wind and solar on public lands and building a workforce for offshore wind.
• Promotes investments in our communities by spurring private investment through the tax code, through a revitalized Build America Bonds program, expansions of Private Activity Bonds, and significant enhancements to the New Markets Tax Credit and the Rehabilitation Tax Credit.

 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has made it clear that she plans to bring this package to the House floor for consideration before the fourth of July holiday.

TIA Government will continue to monitor the full package and keep all appropriate conferences abreast of any updates while keeping in mind a $1.5 trillion package is unlikely to pass the Senate.

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Support Documents

Moving Forward Framework outlines the transportation aspect of the larger package.

You can view Chairman Neil’s press release on the issue: Here.

You can view a fact sheet on the full package: Here.

You can view the section-by-section of the full package: Here.

You can view the full package text: Here.

TIA Government Affairs Works with Members of Congress to Discuss Biggest Issues Facing Our Members

Scott Marks | Government Affairs Manager | TIA

In March 2020, the supply-chain world as we knew it was flipped on its head. America’s 22 trillion-dollar economy came to an abrupt halt and we stopped shipping freight. This impacted everyone in the trucking industry—shippers, third-party logistics companies, and carriers—however, some narratives and headlines have suggested TIA Members have been taking massive margins off-the-top of the cost to move goods. This could not be further from the truth. The transportation industry – like many industries in the American economy – is hurting right now as a result of the impact of COVID-19. We are not immune from the recession; our members are living and working through this national nightmare.

Last month, protests on the National Mall and in front of the White House caught the attention of lawmakers and the President of the United States. Claims made by protesters have dominated the news cycle and we found it of the utmost importance that we set the record straight. Third-party logistics companies are data people and everything they do is steeped in data. So, we stick to the facts because the facts speak for itself.

One of the asks raised by carriers is for policymakers to enact sweeping change of industry standards to stop the practice of entering into contracts on disclosure agreements regarding transaction information when under contract from our member’s customers, the shippers.

Every day, shippers across the country enter into binding contracts with brokers to move freight while asking to keep communications and information proprietary – including company information, freight lanes, and margin information. It’s these contracts and non-disclosure agreements that our TIA Members must respect and honor by not releasing information to any other parties, including carriers.

Here’s an example to put things in perspective. Nike would ask a TIA Member, “Company A,” to keep their supply-chain transaction private due to the highly competitive sporting goods market they participate in. Nike does everything in their power to keep competitors like Adidas at a distance, and not revealing supply-chain information is part of that competitive advantage. Therefore, it is extremely important that “Company A” keeps the transaction confidential—the success of Nike’s business is dependent upon it.

Another ask is to release all margins, on every load.

How would government-mandated price transparency exist in a free, open and competitive market? Think about walking into your local superstore to buy a t-shirt and on every tag, there are two prices. One price is the amount you pay to purchase the shirt. The second price listed on the shirt states the actual cost of making the shirt.

The substantial changes protesters are calling for would be industry-wide and sweeping and would have real long-term consequences for TIA Members and small trucking companies nationwide. TIA Members not only work with ocean barge, aircraft and rail but also with an expansive network of thousands of trucking companies. TIA Members act as a sales force, directing business to thousands of trucking companies every day.

Our TIA Government Affairs team has had several successful meetings with Members of Congress, including Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR-04), Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Congressional Members and their staff were attentive, they asked questions and understood the issues. Ultimately, in my opinion, they seemed to agree with TIA’s position — that re-regulating an already transparent market during a down economy will do more harm than good, it is a solution in search of a problem.

TIA continues to monitor issues of all sizes and scope that go to the heart of our members. We are committed to educating policymakers on why protecting our members’ proprietary information is critical and we look forward to working with Members of Congress to develop policy solutions that protect all stakeholders in the transportation industry.

There are less than 240 days until the 2020 Presidential Election and while it is becoming clearer who the Democratic challenger to President Trump might be whether it be Senator Bernie Sanders or former Vice President Joe Biden, the battle for the House is heating up. In the next blog, we will examine the candidates view on transportation and infrastructure investment, but I leave you with this one tidbit for the Presidential race to keep a close eye on especially in those key swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina, look at the primary voting in terms of turnout, it matters!

On to the House, we are going to take a quick look at the Top 5 House races to watch in the 2020 election, which could possibly determine which party controls the House in 2021.

Oklahoma 5^th District

This was truly one of the most surprising upsets in the 2018 election, where Congresswoman Kendra Horn (D-OK-5) defeated two-term incumbent Steve Russell (R-OK-5) by one percentage point. This truly stands out when you look at the fact that President Trump won the district by 31 points in 2016. Congresswoman Horn is the first Democrat to represent this district in over 40-years. The Republican Party is awaiting their primary to determine which candidate emerges as her opponent. The two front runners appear to be state Senator Stephanie Bice and businesswoman Terry Neese. A number of campaign and political experts mark this as a tossup race. My prediction is Republicans regain this seat because President Trump is on the ticket.

California 50^th District

This is the seat previously held by Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA-50), who recently resigned for corruption and pleaded guilty for misusing campaign funds. California has a unique primary system, where the top two vote-getters are placed on the ballot in November. The primary was on March 3^rd (Super Tuesday), and it appears that Ammar Campa-Najjar (D) and former Congressman Darrell Issa (R) who served in the House from a neighboring district beginning in 2001 until his recent retirement in 2019 will be on the ticket. Mr. Campa-Najjar (D) previously ran for this seat against Congressman Duncan Hunter in 2018 and lost by almost 9,000 votes. He was the first Latino-Arab American to run for Congress and is a former staffer for the Obama Administration. My prediction is Republicans narrowly win and retain the seat. It is a strong Republican district, but President Trump remains unpopular in California. How the cloud over Congressman Duncan Hunter pleading guilty to misusing campaign funds will play in the race remains to be seen.     

South Carolina 1^st District

Congressman Joe Cunningham (D-SC-1)  narrowly won a longtime Republican seat in the Charleston area (one of my favorite places for sure), in part by running on a strong campaign message and pledge to oppose offshore drilling, which lead to his defeat of Katie Arrington (R-SC-1) by one percentage point in 2018. Ms. Arrington defeated the incumbent Congressman Mark Sanford (R-SC-1) and former Governor of South Carolina in the 2018 primary. President Trump won this district by 11 points in 2016 and he is likely to face businesswoman Nancy Mace (R) who was the first female to graduate from The Citadel in 1999. She has received financial support from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and is seen as a top-tier candidate. On the other hand, Vice President Biden did extremely well in South Carolina and the Democratic primary saw a high turnout rate, which certainly bodes well for Congressman Cunningham. My prediction is Republicans retake this seat with Nancy Mace (assuming she wins the primary on June 9^th), narrowly defeating Rep. Cunningham thanks to President Trump being on the ticket.

New York 11^th District

Congressman Max Rose (D-NY-11) defeated two-term incumbent Congressman Dan Donovan (R-NY-11) in 2018 by six percentage points. Congressman Rose served in the U.S. Army as a platoon leader in the War in Afghanistan, where he was wounded and received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. President Trump won this district in 2016 by 10 points. Republicans seem to be rallying behind Nicole Malliotakis (R) who is a member of the New York State Assembly, where she has represented the 64th district for seven years. When Ms. Malliotakis ran mayor of New York City in 2017, she won the 11^th district. Congressman Rose is considered a moderate member of the Democratic party and was one of the last House Members to support the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. It will remain interesting to see if that hurts him in November. My prediction is Democrats retain this seat with Congressman Rose narrowly defeating his Republican challenger.

Utah 4^th District

Finally, Utah’s 4^th Congressional district, where current Congressman Ben McAdams (D-UT-4) narrowly defeated two-term incumbent Congresswoman Mia Love (R-UT-4) by 0.3 points (or less than 700 votes)! President Trump won the State of Utah with 45.5 percent of the vote, which is a little misleading as Independent candidate Evan McMullin (and Utah native) receiving 21.5 percent of the vote and Hillary Clinton receiving 27.5 percent. There are several candidates running for the seat on the Republican side and we won’t know who the candidate is until June 30^th. I think with the name recognition that Congressman McAdams has makes him a difficult challenger. My prediction is Democrats retain this seat, giving Democrats a win in the State of Utah on election night.

Overall, Republicans need 19 seats to regain control of the House – with that number really being closer to 21, as Republicans are set to lose two seats in North Carolina because of redistricting. My prediction for the whole House is that Republicans will certainly make it a race on election night but might come up just short of regaining control of the House. With that being said, I think President Trump gets reelected and could push them over the top. Grab the popcorn and wait and see…

As Congress continues putting together the next surface reauthorization, the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing last Thursday on the needs of the freight transportation industry. Representatives from railroads, state and metropolitan transportation departments, environmental advocacy groups, and academia testified on the investment needs and other challenges facing freight transportation.

One of the primary focuses of the hearing was how to finance freight infrastructure investments, particularly highway maintenance and expansion. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Executive Director Jim Tymon testified that current funding levels aren’t enough to meet states’ state-of-good-repair needs, let alone investing in constructing new infrastructure like freight corridors.

A lot of the industry has come out in favor of raising the gas tax to bring more money into the Highway Trust Fund. TIA supports a modest increase in the gas tax to help pay for critical infrastructure investments; however, we ultimately need to find a new way to raise revenue for the Trust Fund given that rising fuel economy and the increasing popularity of hybrid and electric vehicles has reduced how much revenue a tax on gasoline can raise.

There’s no shortage of ideas for alternatives to the gas tax: Association of American Railroads President & CEO Ian Jefferies, for example, offered a weight-distance fee as another way to shore up the Trust Fund. Others have talked about a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax, though it did not come up at Thursday’s hearing. Congressman Greg Pence (R-IN) said he appreciated that the freight industry has come together to support raising revenues, but the question remains exactly how Congress will choose to do that.

As for how to spend that money, Mr. Tymon said that state departments of transportation want to maintain the federal formula programs—which are easier to administer than competitive grant programs—so that states can have multi-year certainty about how much money they will get from the federal government to make larger infrastructure investments. He also suggested providing states with more flexibility within those programs so that the states can decide what best to spend the money on. (Currently, most of the federal-aid highway programs provide states the flexibility to move up to 50 percent of their allocations from one program to another.)

There was also discussion of the Infrastructure For Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program, formerly known as FASTLANE, which provides competitive grant funding for infrastructure projects—mostly highways and bridges—with a freight transportation component. Several witnesses, including American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association President Chuck Baker and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning Executive Director Erin Aleman, agreed that the process for selecting INFRA grant winners can be “opaque” and that USDOT should ensure project selection criteria are objective, well-communicated to applicants, and closely tied to the goals of the program.

While the nearly three-hour hearing mostly kept things at a high level, there was some interesting disagreement when it came to reducing freight emissions. The surface reauthorization reported by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee back in July was the first to include a climate title, and House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has said he wants to go bigger on climate in the House bill.

Jason Mathers, Director of Vehicles & Freight Strategy for the Environmental Defense Fund, testified about various pilot programs across the country for increasing the use of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles in the freight network, from transporting cargo in and out of ports to delivery packages to homes and businesses. He suggested creating a federal revolving loan fund for purchasing and installing ZEV infrastructure to enable greater use of ZEVs in freight transportation.

Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) took issue with the idea of incentivizing the purchase of ZEVs; he said a better approach would be to eliminate the 12 percent federal excise tax on new trucks, which would make it easier for truck operators (particularly smaller, independent owner-operators) to turn over their fleets; as newer trucks are cleaner and more efficient than the older models they’d be replacing, Rep. LaMalfa said, this would more quickly reduce emissions in the trucking industry than a new incentive. (Rep. LaMalfa has a bill, H.R. 2381, which would eliminate that tax.)

The witnesses seemed reluctant to agree with that approach: Mr. Tymon brought up the fact that the excise tax on new trucks goes into the Highway Trust Fund, and so eliminating that tax would reduce revenues at a time when the focus should be on raising additional revenue. Rep LaMalfa replied that this tax is only a small slice of Trust Fund revenue and would be easily replaced with something else.

Watch the hearing and read the witnesses’ testimony here. If you have any questions, please contact TIA Advocacy at [email protected] or 703.299.5700.

There has been a lot of activity in the last 24-hours on the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement trade deal or the USMCA. TIA is happy to report that a deal appears to be imminent, with all three nations agreeing to sign the agreement as early as today. TIA has been pushing Members of Congress to move this landmark trade deal forward for quite some time. It is imperative to the 3PL industry that we as a nation continue the free movement of goods with our friendly neighbors to the North and South.

“The update to NAFTA in USMCA will modernize trade between our most important international partners. It is essential that we have a secure, strong, prosperous, and growing North American continent. USMCA will keep us on that path,” stated TIA President and CEO Robert Voltmann.

TIA Chairman of the Board of Directors Brian Evans, CTB who is also a Member of the Arkansas State House representing the 43^rd district, drafted a letter of support to Congressional leaders and authored a resolution supporting the passage of the USMCA. Chairman Evans stated in the letter which was co-authored by 26 other State officials:

Trade with Mexico and Canada is vital to the U.S. economy. It has been more than two decades, though, since trade with those countries was comprehensively addressed by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It is well past time to modernize our agreement with these important partners.

We need a 21st Century trade agreement for the 21st Century economy. The time is now to put USMCA to work for us here at home. This bold new agreement provides the framework for economic growth and increased jobs. It will also establish a much more balanced environment for American workers.

News broke yesterday that an agreement was on the horizon, and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi was reviewing recent changes to the agreement that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his Mexican counterpart Jesus Seade had discussed recently. Those changes were proposals on labor inspection rules and tougher steel provisions. The demand from the U.S. regarding steel and aluminum rules came from the United Steelworkers union, who threatened to continue to stall the negotiations last week.

Passing this important trade deal has been one of President Trump’s top priorities. There are still a few procedural hurdles before the agreement can come to the floor for a vote, including committee hearings and review of the implementing bill in the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees. Those steps could be waived to save time, and people familiar with the talks said lawmakers are likely to skip some of them.

If you have any questions, please contact TIA Advocacy ([email protected], 703.299.5700).

Being the policy wonks that we are (literally eating and breathing politics), we like to maintain a pulse on the upcoming elections and predict who is likely to win in key races. This will be a two-part series, with the first part focusing on key Senate races that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of the chamber in the 117^th Congress.

The first state is Alabama, with Senator Doug Jones (D) – won the 2017 special election to replace Senator Jeff Sessions, who left office to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General – currently holding the seat. In 2017, Jones beat Republican candidate Roy Moore, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, by less than two percentage points (in a state that President Trump won with 62% of the vote in 2016). Judge Moore was far from a perfect candidate and was narrowly defeated.

In 2020, Senator Jones will face off against the winner of the state’s GOP primary field, which currently includes Sessions (looking to reclaim his old seat), Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-AL1); former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville; and Judge Roy Moore, who is running again for the seat. As it relates to Sessions – who only recently jumped into the race – it will be interesting to see if he is able to clear the field or if he will fall by the wayside as a result of his falling out with President Trump.

Based on Alabama being a reliably “red” state, my prediction is that as long as the Republican nominee is not Roy Moore, Republicans should be able to pick up this seat. Republicans gain a seat here. TIA has not had too much interaction with Senator Jones.   

The next state is Arizona, with Senator Martha McSally (R) currently holding the seat that she was appointed to following the death of Senator John McCain in August 2018; prior to her Senate appointment, McSally served in the House of Representatives for Arizona’s 2^nd District. Congresswoman McSally ran for the Senate in 2018 against Congresswoman Krysten Sinema (D), where she lost by roughly 2.5 percentage points. President Trump carried the state with 48% of the vote against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receiving 45%. Arizona continues to trend as a “purple” state, and her Democrat opponent will be Mark Kelly, former Astronaut and husband to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords – who was the victim of an assassination attempt back in 2011. Being a border state, immigration should be a key issue to watch in this race. My prediction is Mark Kelly will squeak out a victory over Senator McSally for a variety of reasons, and Democrats gain a seat here. Senator McSally was very helpful to TIA when she was a Member of the House on Homeland Security issues.

The next state is Colorado, with Senator Cory Gardner (R) running as the incumbent. Senator Gardner hopes 2020 shakes out better for him than the Republican Party of late in the state of Colorado. Hillary Clinton won the state by 5 percentage points in 2016 and former Congressman Jared Polis easily won election as the Governor in 2018. There are a number of candidates who have announced to run against Senator Gardner, including former Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper (D) – who recently dropped out of the Presidential race – and former Colorado Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff. I think Governor Hickenlooper will ultimately win the nomination and continue the trend of Democrats dominating Colorado by beating Senator Gardner, who by all accounts has been a good Senator, but the political environment doesn’t bode well for him in the state. Democrats gain a seat here. Senator Gardner has been a supporter of TIA and the logistics industry.

The last state we will look at is Maine, with Senator Susan Collins (R) who will likely be facing her toughest challenge yet. Senator Collins does not always toe the Republican line and does – from time to time – break with the party on key votes. She will likely face Sara Gideon, who is the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. Senator Collins has been in the Senate since 1997 and won reelection to her fourth term in 2014 with 68% percent of the vote. It will be interesting to see how the voters of Maine will vote based on her vote to support Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. I think Senator Collins will get reelected to her fifth term with around 53% of the vote. Republicans maintain a seat her. Senator Collins has been a champion for TIA and the transportation industry on many different issues.

Other states to keep a close eye on include: Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Texas. I don’t see a lot of upsets here, but I think there will be one that no one expects. . .

In the end, we think Republicans barely maintain control of the Senate and Congress remains divided (spoiler alert for the next issue).

If you have any questions or want to learn more about TIA’s Advocacy efforts, please contact TIA Advocacy ([email protected], 703.299.5700).

TIA’s 3PL Technovations Conference kicked off with a continental breakfast followed by opening remarks from TIA Chairman of the Board, Brian Evans, CTB; Technology Committee Chair, Ramona Hood; and TIA President and CEO Bob Voltmann. Following opening remarks, the morning of Day 1, ranged from panels and thought leaders on transportation, technology, and cybersecurity.

The conference features three Showcases with presenters giving a “TECH TALK” on innovations that will advance the industry. Sessions are led by leading 3PLs, futurists, innovators, and industry analysts for attendees to implement, understand, and take control of the technology changes affecting your business.

Some of the top takeaways from day one include:

1. Cybercriminals have been and are emerging as major threats to the transportation and third-party logistics industries. Each year and each minute, cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and proper measures must be taken to protect your business.
2. Acquiring large quantities of freight data can provide new and exciting opportunities for the third-party logistics industry. Enhancements in Freight Visibility can create a smoother supply chain and ultimately cut costs and strengthen the position of the 3PL.
3. With the advancements in technology, in a rapidly changing field, 3PLs need to be ready to invest in technology and solutions that work well with all stops on the assembly line. Automation and digitization have the potential to create high levels of efficiency and ultimately eliminate repetitive tasks.

We are thrilled for the kickoff of Day 2 beginning with a forecast of 2020 from TIA’s chief economist, Noël Perry. Followed by an outstanding panel to discuss and review the existing marketplace, and its regulatory, legal and transactional hurdles, and provide insight on why some companies choose acquisitions and others do no not.

I have the pleasure to co-write this Chris on the Hill with my colleague Matt Mantione who is TIA’s Vice President of Membership. On Friday, November 1^st, Matt and I traveled to the Big Apple, New York City, to host the first-ever TIA Member Plug-in Event with our cohost Transfix. The event was a huge success where TIA Members and potential Members were able to network and make business connections with their local peers.

When Matt and I were recently talking about hosting a regional networking event for our Members, we wanted to make sure that we facilitated an event that appealed to Members and prospect members. One of our goals was to fill that gap between TIA’s big three annual conferences, the Annual Conference in April, the Policy Forum (Fly-in) in June and the TIA Technovations Conference in November. We completely understand that not all Members have the time and resources to attend these conferences and the TIA Member.

Plug-in Events could hopefully provide a venue to fill that void and allow those Members an opportunity to network with their peers and meet with TIA staff members.

The TIA Member Plug-in Event in New York allowed us the opportunity to briefly update the group on the Association and the current state of play in Washington, DC, including the legislative and regulatory environments. Additionally, TIA raffled off a complimentary full registration to the 2020 Policy Forum in June (a $400 value!), and congratulations to Mackenzie McGowan of Kinetic-Supply Chain Solutions for being the big winner!

After the event, PJT Logistics’ Michael Mecca, had this to say, “The plug-in event in New York City hosted by TIA was a tremendous experience. It’s so nice to loosen up the collar in a relaxed and casual setting after a hard day at the office connecting with great people in our industry. This event brought back the good old days of Happy Hour on a Friday to a new level! Networking with other members that are locally domiciled in my region is a brilliant idea/opportunity offered by the TIA.”

Further from Mecca’s perspective, “I really enjoyed myself on Friday night. I met great professionals that all share the same experiences, problems, headaches, stress, obstacles, and enjoyment that I experience each day in the wonderful world of transportation brokerage. I got to collaborate with companies I knew of their name but never got to understand how similar we are to each other. Also, how we can assist each other in business being from New York/ New Jersey whether it may pertain to resources or even on the customer level. If it wasn’t for the TIA and their networking event; these great experiences would never have happened. Glad to be part of the event and a TIA member. Thank you, Chris and Matt, for the time and personal attention. You guys definitely knocked it out of the park. It was casual, personable and comfortable to just be ourselves. I had a great time! I look forward to more fun events from the TIA.”

Matt and I look to continue this success throughout this great country with other TIA Member Plug-in Events. Keep an eye out for the next city, it may be yours.

If you have any questions or want to learn more about TIA’s Advocacy efforts, please contact Chris Burroughs ([email protected]).