Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 31, 1992                   TAG: 9203310121
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

GOVERNMENT-BACKED BILL WOULD END ICC, STATE LAWS ON INTERSTATE TRUCKING

Card estimated that trucking regulations in 42 states cost the industry and consumers between $3 billion and $8 billion a year.

The administration, he said, has sent Congress legislation that would end the "unnecessary and burdensome regulatory requirements on trucking now in place at the Interstate Commerce Commission."

The measure would prohibit states from regulating the rates, routes and services of interstate motor carriers. It also proposes abolishing the ICC.

It would not affect safety requirements, said Card, who was scheduled to testify today before the House subcommittee on surface transportation.

Congress largely deregulated the industry in 1980, with the exception of interstate traffic, which is under state control. Eight states - Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wisconsin - have no interstate trucking regulations.

The Regular Common Carrier Conference, the lobbying arm of the American Trucking Association Inc., opposes further deregulation, saying regulation means competitiveness, financial stability and safety.

Virginia-based Overnite Trucking Co., the nation's fourth largest trucking company, withdrew from the conference in February in a dispute over the issue.

Thomas Boswell, chief executive officer of Overnite and a vice president of the American Trucking Association, said he wanted to show Congress that some companies favor full deregulation.