Push for tighter trucking company oversight sees Statehouse support

A key state legislator says he’s ready to push a crackdown on so-called chameleon trucking companies that’s been championed by Republican secretary of state candidate Max Engling.

The issue has been a lead talking point of Engling’s campaign in which he’s raised concerns about trucking businesses that register with the secretary of state’s office but later shut down and reregister under new names when they face safety investigations.

House Roads and Transportation Committee Chair Jim Pressel joined Engling at a Statehouse news conference Tuesday, saying such businesses organize as limited liability corporations and exist “for a moment in time” until safety officials start closing in.

“We’ve got great logistics companies. We’ve got great motor carriers,” said Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie. “But what we don’t have is a mechanism to identify these chameleon carriers.”

Crashes involving semis driven by foreign-born drivers have often drawn attention, leading to Indiana and other states adopting tougher commercial driver licensing requirements.

Pressel authored legislation approved earlier this year that imposes felonies and fines on improperly credentialed truck drivers and tightens employer and training‑school penalties. That bill cleared the Legislature with nearly unanimous approval.

Engling said the secretary of state’s office needs to implement systems to detect suspicious business filings, such as multiple registrations from the same home address.

“We know that there are problems like that that need to be further investigated and potentially prosecuted,” Engling said. “But part of the issue is that we don’t have a clear idea to the magnitude of the issue.”

The other secretary of state candidates haven’t emphasized the fraudulent business filings crackdown as Engling has. 

The campaign of Democratic candidate Beau Bayh did not immediately reply Tuesday for a request for comment.

Bayh said during a recent candidates debate that the secretary of state’s securities division needed to become better prepared for fraudsters using artificial intelligence tools.

“The secretary of state needs to move into the new age of fraud,” Bayh said. “One of the very important responsibilities of the secretary of state is rooting out securities fraud in our state, making sure particularly our seniors are not taken advantage of.”

Pressel said the secretary of state’s business registry should be connected with the state Department of Revenue, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the state police to spot fraudulent trucking companies.

Another step Pressel mentioned was possibly requiring those companies to have physical operations in the state rather than just a mailing address.

Pressel said he was glad Engling was emphasizing the issue.

“I think he’s on the same page with me as we need to identify those folks and then create that portal to where it goes straight to the Department of Revenue that handles mobile carrier services,” Pressel said.