We want to alert you all to something that you may or may not be aware of. There is a proposed rule by the Federal Trade Commission (published in Federal Register/Vol. 88, No. 216 /Thursday, November 9, 2023 page 233 or so of that document). This rule, though it doesn’t specifically mention towing, is potentially VERY damaging to our industry and not just our industry but many others.
SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission commences a rulemaking to promulgate a trade regulation rule entitled ‘‘Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees,’’ which would prohibit unfair or deceptive practices relating to fees for goods or services, specifically, misrepresenting the total costs of goods and services by omitting mandatory fees from advertised prices and misrepresenting the nature and purpose of fees. The Commission finds these unfair or deceptive practices relating to fees to be prevalent based on prior enforcement, the comments it received in response to an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, and other information discussed in this proposal. The Commission now solicits written comment, data, and arguments concerning the utility and scope of the trade regulation rule proposed in this notice of proposed rulemaking to prevent the identified unfair or deceptive practices.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 8, 2024.
On February 7th the Federal Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Administration, issued public comments (see document attached) on this rule making and specifically targeted the towing industry. Personally, I believe the DOT didn’t issue public comment until after the January 8th deadline in an effort to not alert our industry to this proposed rule.
Obviously, this is on the Federal level, and it is my understanding that this was missed by TRAA until just recently in light of the DOT public statement. The purpose of this email is to alert you to this issue, and I will send further information as it becomes available to me. Megan, KJ, Jeanette and I are all aware of this and are working to determine the next steps. The rule has already been proposed (November 9) and the period for comment has passed (February 8). My guess is that all of the Towing stakeholders were not aware of this until the public DOT comment. I do not know yet if the FTC will require public hearings on this prior to publishing the final rule.
TRAA is working on this issue as well. I spent my morning yesterday speaking with Joanne Blyton (President of TRAA) and Bill Johnson (Legislation Advisory Chair TRAA). KJ and Megan will be in Washington, DC at the beginning of March for Hill Day.
Megan, KJ and I all sat in a zoom yesterday afternoon with the Association of Professional Towing – Ohio and Southwest Tow Operators. The main agenda for this meeting was to create a coalition of all towing associations across the United States to help fight the rules.
Should you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out to Megan or myself.
Megan Ferril – 806-336-7182
LouAnn Wagner – 210-260-4883
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