Owner-operators are actually not completely allowed in California. And trucks for the most part must be very new to comply with California emissions requirements. The "labor shortage" is in part aggravated by these regulations.
>Danielle Inman, a spokesperson for the National Retail Foundation, which has lobbied for California to overturn AB 5, told PolitiFact that the state’s regulations on trucking impact the availability of drivers and trucks
>(AB 5) makes it nearly impossible for truck drivers to be independent contractors
>At the time AB 5 passed, industry experts said that some owner-operators sought work elsewhere. Some fleets, too, chose to stop doing business with owner-operators in California.
And
>To meet the current clean air regulations, the state Department of Motor Vehicles blocks new registrations of any oversized vehicles older than 2011 — or those with engines manufactured before 2010.
>Some trucking companies have used the regulations to pressure drivers to buy newer rigs, and some in the industry have claimed that, while not necessarily the cause of the backlog, this kind of policy doesn't help.
10 years is the average or target lifespan of a truck, not necessarily the average age. I’m not sure what the average age or distribution for trucks serving California ports are
Similarly, human life expectancy is 80 years in the US, but the average age is 38.
The same fact check says that 96% of vehicles are compliant, and order vehicles can be made compliant by replacing the engine.
Either way, a lack of trucks is not the issue, it’s the lack of drivers (because pay and conditions are poor) and the bottleneck at the yards where they can’t exchange empty containers for full containers
> Owner-operators are actually not completely allowed in California. And trucks for the most part must be very new to comply with California emissions requirements. The "labor shortage" is in part aggravated by these regulations. ...
This is one of those nonsense fact checks that they roll out when something is true but people who love government interventionism wish wasn't. Their conclusions don't make any sense.
They have two points:
The contractor ban is currently under injunction in court so why would that affect anyone's behavior. Well, but people do change their behavior when something becomes a legal grey area. And being an owner-operator in CA is not clearly legal anymore, so why risk it? If you're a company that wants to do shipping in CA, does your plan include using owner-operators now? It takes a high level of asinine pollyanna-ism to not be able to think for one second why this might have a substantial effect on shippers.
The second point, that the "truck ban" is not at fault is also total nonsense. First they say "oh the law has been in effect since 2008" well according to their own link, [1]
it is loaded with ramp-ups in the emmissions requirements. As time passes the requirements increase. As of now nearly all of the most stringent requirements are in place.
So besides citing the law which doesnt make much of a case for their argument, they then quote a partisan who loves the law to say there's no evidence that this law is affecting anything.
And then they take this pile of nonsense to claim it is mostly false, ending with this non-sequitur:
"The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread layoffs and factory closures that haven’t yet bounced back to meet the surging consumer demand. "
The ports are full of fucking containers you fucking nitwits! Full of containers filled by workers working at factories! How could this have any bearing on the port issue?
Politifact is a total joke. They're clearly being paid to give cover to whatever their paymasters want.
I agree with everything you said except the unsubstantiated quid pro quo argument. In politics people seem very quick to, “ follow the money", but people have political bias he's outside of this and agendas.
>Danielle Inman, a spokesperson for the National Retail Foundation, which has lobbied for California to overturn AB 5, told PolitiFact that the state’s regulations on trucking impact the availability of drivers and trucks
>(AB 5) makes it nearly impossible for truck drivers to be independent contractors
>At the time AB 5 passed, industry experts said that some owner-operators sought work elsewhere. Some fleets, too, chose to stop doing business with owner-operators in California.
And
>To meet the current clean air regulations, the state Department of Motor Vehicles blocks new registrations of any oversized vehicles older than 2011 — or those with engines manufactured before 2010.
>Some trucking companies have used the regulations to pressure drivers to buy newer rigs, and some in the industry have claimed that, while not necessarily the cause of the backlog, this kind of policy doesn't help.