FMCSA’s Truck Leasing Task Force to hold first meeting in July

A federal Truck Leasing Task Force (TLTF) is scheduled to hold its first meeting in July with the goal of ensuring that drivers have access to fair leasing agreements and monitoring the potential safety and financial impacts on owner-operators.

Created as part of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, the TLTF will be a new body of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) within the U.S. Department of Transportation.

FMCSA last month announced the nine members of the task force, which includes industry professionals from: labor organizations, motor carriers, consumer protection groups, owner-operators, attorneys, educators, and other related businesses.

Representing the truck leasing sector on the TLTF will be Joshua Krause, chief operating officer of Foxpoint, the holding company for OTR Leasing, a tech-enabled specialty finance company that leases Class 8 Trucks. “I’m proud to serve on this important Truck Leasing Task Force and represent the truck leasing industry,” Krause said in a release. “I look forward to sharing business best practices that will have a lasting impact on the safety and financial wellbeing of owner-operators across our nation.”

Additional members of the board include:

• Tamara Brock, Brock Logistics, LLC and Lewis & Lewis Logistics, LLC (Independent Owner-Operator)
• Paul Cullen, The Cullen Law Firm, PLLC (Attorney) 
• Troy Hawkins, TTOH Consulting & Logistics, LLC (Independent Owner-Operator)
• Jim Jefferson, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (Consumer Protection)
• Kaitlyn Long, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Labor Organization) 
• Steve Rush, Carbon Express Inc. (Carrier)
• Lesley Tse, Of counsel to Getman, Sweeney & Dunn, PLLC (Attorney)
• Steve Viscelli, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (Economic Sociologist)