Senate Advances FMCSA's Joshi Nomination

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee voted on Wednesday to advance Meera Joshi's nomination as the seventh administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

If confirmed by the full Senate, Joshi, who has led the FMCSA as deputy administrator since January, will take over as administrator as the trucking industry struggles to keep up with high consumer demand while navigating disruption along the entire supply chain. She would succeed Ray Martinez as the latest administrator. Six acting or deputy administrators have also led the agency since 2000 (see table).

Nominations also advanced by the Commerce Committee on Wednesday were those of Amit Bose, as Federal Railroad administrator, and Mohsin Raza Syed, as DOT Assistant Secretary for Government Affairs.

Acting or deputy administrators since 2000: Julie Cirillo, Clyde Hart, David Hugel, Daphne Jefferson, Jim Mullen, Wylie Deck.
*Pending confirmation
Source: FreightWaves research.

Over the past nine months, Joshi has issued several rules and proposed regulations, including new mandates for enforcing drug and alcohol requirements at the state level and potential new standards for drivers with vision loss. Joshi has also extended pandemic-related hours-of-service waivers and has continued the trend of granting exemptions for dashcams and other safety-related technologies.

She has also acknowledged the challenges of rolling out autonomous trucks and the potential effects it will have on the driver workforce. As the country's top trucking safety regulator, Joshi told lawmakers at her nomination hearing in September she is committed to taking concrete steps to reduce deaths and injuries from large-truck crashes.

Her office is currently working with state motor vehicle divisions to cut red tape and speed up the issuance of CDLs to get more qualified truckers on the road, including those who serve ports, to help mitigate supply chain disruptions.

Joshi most recently served as general manager of the New York office of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants and visiting scholar at New York University's Rudin Center for Transportation policy.

Prior to Sam Schwartz, Joshi served as chief regulator of New York City's for-hire vehicle industry as chairman and CEO at the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission from 2014 to 2019.

Related articles:

• FMCSA chief Joshi: Drivers will take hit from automated trucks
• FMCSA head commits to boosting oversight of trucking
• Biden taps Joshi to lead FMCSA

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

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