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September 2019 President’s Column
President's Comments
By: Steve Weitekamp |
On August 30, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 391 (Monning) Household Movers Act: Enforcement: Special Investigators and Supervising Special Investigators into law. Effective January 1, 2020 special enforcement staff from the Bureau of Household Goods and Services (BHGS) will have the authority to write and enforce citations for violations of the “Household Movers Act.”
We support their ability to have effective tools to address illegal movers who fail to follow the rules and do real damage to consumers, permitted movers, and the taxpayers of California. This authority is not an over-reach of enforcement but a correction of an oversight in SB 19 (Hill), which transferred authority from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) BHGS. The CPUC always had, but infrequently used, the authority to write enforceable citations.
Recent developments in the military moving arena has made it clear that a more formal Association position be established. While there is much elaboration that can be added to each of the six points below it is our belief that they are a good starting off point for individual or Association discussion/advocation on the issues. After a vote of the CMSA Military Affairs Committee and the Association Board of Directors the following six points were established.
CMSA Position on the US TransCom Global Outsourcing Initiative:
- The Association has serious concern about the viability of agents who currently focus on serving military business in a revised program.
- Those agents who also serve the program as TSP’s, many of the programs most active service providers, will see a significant loss in revenue that could challenge their ability to serve the program in the future.
- Regardless of outcome, CMSA’s goal to advocate for a program that will drive more money to the boots at the curb, agents and drivers.
- That any changes do not negatively impact agents and drivers currently providing service to the program based upon Van Line affiliation or lack thereof.
- If changes are made that protections are in place to ensure agents and drivers are paid in a timely manner leading up to and upon the transition.
- That we see great value in the Association continuing to have a seat at the table, now and into the future, to the benefit of all agents and drivers.
September starts the season of 2019-2020 chapter meetings and fundraisers. I strongly encourage you to get involved with your local chapter, starting with attending upcoming meetings. There is a lot of current issues in our industry and regardless if you have a business that relies on employees or independent contractors, perform moves for the military or private transferee, you don’t want to miss the information shared best face to face.
We will have speakers sharing valuable information, but many times the best discussions are a result of the networking opportunities that a CMSA event provides. Our chapter fundraisers provide resources to continue the Association’s long history of good work. A 100% of CMSA Chapters donated funds go exclusively to support our Academic and Vocational Scholarship program, Special Olympics annual donation and our Chairman’s Choice Charity–this year the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PANCAN).
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