Jim Lamb flags FMCSA legal challenges

1/ Jim Lamb used a June 4 X thread to assemble several live disputes involving the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, pulling together UCR data-release litigation, broker-transparency rulemaking, and FOIA-related complaints into one place. The post tagged FMCSA and Derek Barrs and linked readers to underlying filings and agency materials. (smalltransportation.us) 2/ The UCR piece is the most concrete. A court filing posted on the Small Business in Transportation Coalition site says SBTC asked the D.C. Circuit to expedite review of FMCSA’s Nov. 10, 2025 denial of its petition for remedial UCR rulemaking. The filing names FMCSA, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the United States as respondents. (smalltransportation.us) 3/ That filing says SBTC wants FMCSA to “cure the Privacy Act violations” by ending releases of truckers’ personally identifiable information to the UCR system enterprise and its technology vendor. It also says SBTC sought action on a UCR exemption application and other equitable relief. (smalltransportation.us) 4/ The same filing ties the privacy claim to FMCSA’s older UCR data-release framework. SBTC alleges the agency’s current practice conflicts with FMCSA’s original 2007 policy limiting releases to state entities, and argues the UCR system was never properly established through the regulations Congress required. (smalltransportation.us) 5/ The broker-transparency side of Lamb’s thread rests on a rulemaking that is real, active and unfinished. FMCSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking on Nov. 20, 2024 on “Transparency in Property Broker Transactions,” responding to petitions from OOIDA and SBTC. (fmcsa.dot.gov) 6/ FMCSA’s proposal says carriers and other parties to a brokered freight transaction already have a right to review the broker’s record of the transaction, and that contracts often contain waivers of that right. The agency proposed changes to clarify brokers’ obligation to provide transaction records on request and to revise the format and content of those records. (fmcsa.dot.gov) 7/ SBTC’s grievance is partly about timing. FMCSA reopened the comment period on Feb. 18, 2025 after receiving an SBTC request, but the rule has not been finalized. Outside summaries tied to OMB tracking have said a second NPRM was expected in 2026, underscoring why Lamb framed the matter as delay rather than closure. (fmcsa.dot.gov) 8/ Lamb’s FOIA references land in a third bucket: access to agency records. FMCSA’s FOIA page says the agency aims to process requests within 20 business days, maintain open communication with requesters, and operate with a “presumption of openness.” That gives critics a published benchmark against which to measure delays or denials. (fmcsa.dot.gov) 9/ The thread matters because it is less a single allegation than a map of pressure points. One track is in court over UCR legality and privacy. Another is in rulemaking over broker transaction records. A third concerns document access through FOIA. Each one touches a different lever FMCSA uses: data handling, rule implementation, and disclosure. (smalltransportation.us) 10/ For carriers, brokers and compliance teams, the practical value is the primary-source trail. The filings and rulemaking notices show where to watch next: the D.C. Circuit matter tied to SBTC’s UCR petition, the FMCSA broker-transparency docket, and any further agency response on FOIA processing and records release. (smalltransportation.us)