California Construction Trucking Association (CCTA)

I would like to start my report by thanking all of you who took time to meet here in Sacramento for the first board meeting of 2011. It was one of the most well attended meetings I can recall. The staff, Lorraine, Dianna, and Lisa at AADT did a great job of making everything run so smoothly while providing up-to-date business information.

The CDTOA new memberships went through the roof, thanks to Ugalde Trucking and our broker-partnering program.
A special thanks also needs to go to Armstrong & Associates, along with State Fund’s Stewart Holt for their financial support which helps to make our association that much stronger. Armstrong & Associates hosted the Saturday luncheon, and AADT again hosted the Friday working dinner for the EC, staff, consultants, and guests.

The meeting went very well, and the mood was unusually upbeat as the Executive Committee reported that CDTOA had filed a lawsuit against the out-of-control state agency called CARB and its board chair, Mary Nichols, and executive director, James Goldstene. The suit will be managed by Brooks Ellison Law Group, our legal counsel and advocate. Brooks, Pat, and Kirk filed our lawsuit on February 11 in the Sacramento Federal District Court. This is the first shot to be fired in our war concerning the overreaching of a very unpopular, anti-business, job-killing agency and its regulations.

Greg Dineen and Hank de Carbonel held an early morning meeting for the heavy hauler and concrete pumper member conferences. They invited a guest speaker from the CHP to discuss issues, regulations, and enforcement policies related to oversized load movements and equipment. There was a pretty good turnout, and Greg gave a follow-up report in the General Board Meeting, too. Hank also reported he has had success building interest with a number of new members from the concrete pumper community. He is optimistic that we will soon see many new members and affiliates in this conference.
The CDTOA Broker Bill was another hot topic at the Board Meeting in Sacramento. Dan Bertrand of Armstrong & Associates was on hand to field questions about how you can make sure your business is in compliance with this new regulation. I suggest that if you have any questions, call him first as he is by far the most knowledgeable broker in this state concerning this broker bond. You also need to understand that Dan at Armstrong is our (CDTOA) endorsed insurance broker—we need to support those who support us. Dan’s philosophy is: “Just give me (Armstrong) a chance to quote your insurance needs. If anything, it will keep your broker honest, especially in these very difficult times.”

Kirk Blackburn, part of our legal team, updated us on future amendments to our broker bill that will be crafted and refined during this legislative secession. The CDTOA Board made a recommendation that we begin to develop a proactive agenda to identify some bad brokers working outside the law, then help local district attorneys prosecute them for our members benefit. If you have one in your area, call CDTOA. Let’s build a list; we are preparing a strategy to help get these bad brokers in compliance or push them out of our business.

Sean Edgar, our CARB rules consultant, gave an update on compliance with the existing on-road truck and bus diesel engine rule. Read his articles in our magazine or website if you’re interested in how you will have to comply with the CARB regulations. The charts and information in his articles will guide you to determine your best choices based on your fleet size and engine age.

Betty Plowman’s hard work and contacts at CARB could lead to a higher 20,000-mile, two-year regulatory extension for our industry, specifically for dump truckers—at least that is what has been implied in discussions with CARB’s staff. This might be granted for dump truckers in the know—CDTOA members first.

With the economy stuck here on DOA (thanks to our state government), contractors pricing work below costs, and fuel prices nearing record highs, doing business here in California has never been more difficult. Today, it’s important that you know what is going on with every aspect of your business, get to your chapter meetings, and find ways to make a difference. Greg Wallace and Betty Plowman have been doing a great job in keeping the membership informed. Their telephone numbers are in the magazine page 3, 4 and in the back of the magazine, call them at any time. If you have suggestions or input or would like to get involved in your chapter, there’s never been a better time to do this.

If You Are Not Angry By Now, You’re Dead!
We are now a month into our CDTOA v. CARB (Mary Nichols and James Goldstene) lawsuit. This is the first true questing and legal testing of their new world order, and I’m surprised about the support we have received from industry and the public. CDTOA’s Jesse Ramirez, our magazine and web design specialist, reported recently that the number of hits we have had to our website has been overwhelming. Some days over 200 members and interested parties are on the site at any one time. The office has received thousands of dollars in donations for our F4A legal fund. Some donations are even coming from out of state, from expatriates who have moved to “anywhere but California” because of taxes and over-regulation by the government, and almost consistently the complaints are about CARB. While this is all good news, our fund is far from what we need. We need as much help as we can get from every segment of the industry. Truly strength is numbers.

If you get a chance, Google “CDTOA v. CARB” or “CDTOA lawsuit,” as I recently did, and you will find there are over 500 posts from different media organizations, most from industry. I was a little shocked to be honest!

The office has done a great job sending out the press release to inform the media and public of our struggle to take this to the Supreme Court if necessary. This is our stand; let’s make it count! I cannot say this enough: Call your elected officials, make them know about your real struggles, tell them we are not going to take this any more, and that they must “KILL CARB.” We, the people directly affected by these unfair regulations, need to keep up the fight. If CARB and their enviro-jihadists win, diesel and probably small businesses of most types here will be soon gone. These regulations are an attack on every one of us. Big business is not in the fight (yet) because most wrongly believe that eliminating us, the little businesses, gives them a bigger market share. And so far, it appears they would rather have this opportunity than the inevitable unionization efforts that are sure to follow. They all appear to wrongly believe that fighting CARB on the junk-science propaganda or job killing over-regulation is against the public opinion—well, I’m here to tell them they are wrong!

The engine and truck manufacturers are also not in the fight (at this point) because they will sell more engines in more trucks, and this is reflected in their robust stock prices, but they better understand that CARB’s John Fronies is still committed to going after “diesel vapors,” meaning the elimination of diesel as a fuel in the state. Make no mistake, CARB has an agenda to eliminate diesel, which means everyone will have to repower again by 2023.

For those of us looking to try to comply with these regulations, it is not realistic or economically feasible to put 2010 engines in older trucks. And just like some of us who updated our fleets trying to be environmentally conscious back in 2003—when we were told than that we “where doing our part to help the environment” and bought newer trucks (and engines)—now have trucks that will not even meet the new emissions standards without at least another $20,000 investment for a diesel particulate filter (DPF). This is not right; it is totally dishonest.

Anyone buying a new 2010 truck or even a DPF for your older truck has to really wonder, when will the 2010 on-road rule compliance dates be changed next? If we let these lying, subverting (Johnny Fronies’ favorite word) activites to continue to control our lives based on their junk-science, we are all doomed. How many more small family businesses have to be carelessly punished and forced out of business so they (UC academics and their enviro-friends) can get more government grants and self aggrandizing environmental awards based on premature death and nebulous health effects claims that are totally fabricated (see Betty’s story on pg. 30).

So, have you ever heard the term “killed by the cure,” like leech bleeding in medieval times? What are the health effects on those going through the process of losing their businesses, bankruptcies, and ultimately losing their family home? Where’s Dr. Telles now when we need him to tell the truth about the real health effect of loosing your job versus breathing some air John Fronies thinks “may” cause some problem? When the government kills small businesses like this, it not only affects the owners and their families, but also their employees and their families. Make no mistake, this is affecting many Californians who unassumingly purchased state and federal compliant diesel-powered trucks and equipment, only to afterwards be told they are too dangerous. This is all a purging of a class of businesses within our state, similar to what went on in Germany and Europe between 1939-45!

So, who will we blame for this bad state economy when it all blows up (and it will)? If it’s up to me, CARB and the insensitive environmental movement and their union buddies are behind our dysfunctional legislature. And hopefully, the same enviros and union members who have perpetrated this entire health effects lie will soon get what they deserve—I call it Wisconsin Justice! These folks are the “true” killers in our society today, and they need to go away.

If our state legislators really want to start to balance the budget, they need to begin with killing CARB and reallocating its $700- to $800-million-a-year “black hole” budget and UC grant ties back to the people like us in the form of reparations. Then that Taj Mahal CARB building in downtown Sacramento needs to be sold off or converted into a hotel. We will rename it the Museum of Equipment and Truck Reparations for Owners, or the METRO! I like it: Hotel METRO for the real non-entitlement working class. Then we will dedicate the first three floors as a (diesel-powered) truck and farm equipment museum (free attendance). The truth is our businesses are the ones that are actually paying for this building now.

Lastly, I believe that Mary Nichols should minimually be disbarred and booted from UCLA and CARB and taken off the double-dipping jobs (and pensions) she now has, for the way she as a lawyer and academic has handled the Hein Tran cover-up, the lack of disclosure, lack of transparency (Graded an F by Californians Aware), and the systemic transformation of CARB into a rogue, job-killing government agency. See the CERT article on pg. 15  too!

Reaching Out to New Members and the Media
On March 2, Betty Plowman and I began a road trip to Stockton, CA to greet some new members and our newest affiliates. Just before noon, we had stopped at Cozad Trailer Company owned by Tom Pistacchio. We met with Tom and some of his staff, and it’s pretty impressive how he has transformed this company, arguably into one of the largest construction industry-focused trailer manufacturing companies in the Western U.S, maybe even the entire U.S. With the recent purchases of Reliance and ACE trailer companies, he has created a new parent company with the name of America’s Trailer Company—truly a “MADE IN CALIFORNIA” business!

Betty and I were given a great tour of the operations and even met with a high school classmate of her’s, Curt Weeks of Richmond High in the Bay Area, who now manages much of Tom’s company. Randy Askins, our Sacramento Chapter treasurer works there too, and after all of this, in some respects it felt like old home week to us. This is a great group of friends.
I want to also thank Tom for graciously offering the opportunity for us to share his company’s booth space at the upcoming ConExpo trade show in Las Vegas. We hope to promote our organizations and partnerships and educate the show’s visitors about our lawsuit and problems with CARB. We will be at the Cozad/Reliance company booth #536, and the company’s equipment will be featured in the Silver Lot #1 & 2 outdoors. The ConExpo show is one of the largest construction shows on the planet. It runs March 22 through the 26; make sure you visit us.

Promoting our industry, CDTOA, and AADT is what we are about. It is our association, and all of us need to promote our industry, association, and affiliates if we plan to be successful in this business.

CDTOA member Tim Manley of Manley & Sons Trucking (Sacramento) called March 3rd to tell me Fox News was asking to interview his business live at 7:30 the next morning about high fuel (diesel) prices. He asked if I could be there to explain the broader industry issues we face. Tim did a great job explaining his businesses costs and the inability to pass on fuel and regulatory costs in a very dysfunctional and competitive construction environment. When I was interviewed, I was asked some broader industry questions. It was a great opportunity to promote what CDTOA is doing and to get in some positive comments about our industry and trucking in general. Fortunately, when I was asked about industry-wide problems we all face, I was able to talk about our lawsuit with CARB and the fact that dump trucks are invaluable to the safety and prosperity of California—as in earthquakes, floods, landslides, levee-breaks, even snow storm clean-up, although it has been a bad year for snow removal due to all this global warming—just kidding!

Try looking for us (California Dump Truck Owners Association) on Facebook, and post some pictures of what’s happening in your part of the dump truck world. Actually, Lee has said that many politicians are now asking for real life stories about businesses affected by regulation and especially CARB regulation. Give us your story. Start by calling the CDTOA office, and we will get your name and contact information on the A-list.