Bradley: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the mobile matters podcast. Powered by the mobile chamber, where we’re diving deeper into important topics that make a significant impact on mobile thriving business community. I’m your host and president and CEO of the mobile chamber, Bradley Byrne. We had the privilege of speaking with Mark Colson, the president and CEO of the Alabama Trucking Association.

Mark’s an old friend. It’s good to have him down here in Mobile. We’ll discuss the association, uh, and the 2025 legislative session and the critical topic of tort reform. So Mark, welcome to Mobile Matters.

Mark Colson: Thank you, Bradley. Thank you for having me. It feels like coming home. I have all the years getting to work down here with various businesses and, and you personally.

I, You know, when I think about, and I mean this from the heart, when I, when I think about getting to [00:01:00] work with you, I think about the Theodore Roosevelt quote, the man in the arena, because you’re, you’re that man. I mean, you, you’ve been in the arena and the private sector and the public sector, and you’ve got the battle scars to prove it.

So, uh, I know it’s such an exciting time in Mobile and you leading the chamber and got a great, great team of leaders down here, so it’s an honor to be here with you all today.

Bradley: Well, you put your finger on it. It is a team of leaders. There’s no one individual who’s got the real lead role. Um, and we all understand that the different roles we play are important, but we’re glad to have you down here and a lot of our, uh, Uh, people that are watching this may not know very much about the Trucking Association.

So what is the Trucking Association? What’s its mission?

Mark Colson: So the Alabama Trucking Association was formed in 1938. So right before World War II, as the trucking industry was being formed. And since that time, it served the needs of, uh, of those in Alabama that call trucking home. And most people don’t know this, but in Alabama, we have 131, 000 individuals.

That work in the trucking industry. That

Bradley: never knew

Mark Colson: [00:02:00] that one, one in one in 13 jobs in our state. And just like a chamber of commerce, whether it be a local chamber or state chamber, we, we operate at this interesting intersection of business, government, and politics. Right. And as we know, that’s a busy intersection.

Yeah. And so, you know, the three things that we really focus on are safety, education, and advocacy. And we do that on behalf of our members. There’s over 32, 000 trucking companies in the state. They’re all the allied industries that support it. So we, you know, we’ve been doing that for since, you know, pre World War II and still doing it today.

It looks different today than it did back then, I’m sure. Uh, but, but it’s a, it’s a great organization with great people, a great culture. And, uh, and I’m proud to get to work in it.

Bradley: Well, I’ve had the honor of working with the Trucking Association for I’ve been in the trucking industry for many years, I didn’t want to think how far back I could go with that.

What are the biggest challenges that are facing the trucking industry?

Mark Colson: Sure. And you know, I think any business sector is going to resemble this first one. It’s just economic conditions. Um, most people don’t know this, but if you, if you follow the freight [00:03:00] markets, we’ve been in a recession for nearly 22, 23 months.

So it’s been a difficult time. And you know, that when you, when you’re in those tough economic times, the people that hurt the worst are the smaller businesses, smaller, medium sized businesses, which, um, Alabama is made up of primarily. Right. And so, you know, that’s number one. I know we’re going to talk about lawsuit abuse, but that’s another one.

Every industry sees it. We get to see it. We’re the poster child on billboards. You see the advertising and, you know, we’ll talk about that in a minute. Truck parking is another one, a huge impediment for safety in our industry, huge impediment for getting more females into our industry, um, and something that we can actually solve if we have cooperation with state and federal officials.

Uh, and another one that this isn’t. Everyone in the supply chain, us trucking being an essential link in the supply chain is cargo theft. Uh, you’re going to be hearing more about that having served in Congress. There’s a, there’s a bigger discussion. Uh, trucking executive just test, testified, uh, last week in the house.

And it’s, it’s one of those [00:04:00] things. It’s hard to understand the impact of it, but being in town, like Mobile with a port, uh, there’s all different forms of cargo theft and trucking sees the various forms of it. And it’s costing all of us because we all pay for that. Inflationary pressure. So those are just a few of the things that are hitting us.

But, um, you know, just at the end of the day, uh, another one that encompasses everyone, it’s just workforce, you know, workforce development. I’m going to share a little more about that at the lunch today. And, uh, it’s something that I think we have an interesting case study in trucking. We have, I think more barriers to entry than, than, than some industries.

And I think we’ve, we’re behind, we’ve been behind the eight ball. On communicating the values and the opportunities that exist in our industry. But we’re catching up quickly and I’m excited about that.

Bradley: So, you know, we all know, sort of generally because we see the trucks on the road, we all know that trucking impacts transportation, but how else does trucking impact business and consumers?

Mark Colson: Just, just like I was somewhat blind to the [00:05:00] impact of trucking, I grew up in my family tire business. So I was introduced to the culture of the industry at a young age, uh, but once again, didn’t realize there were 131, 000 plus people in Alabama that work in trucking. Also, 86%. Of all, of communities in Alabama, it’s, uh, depend exclusively on trucking for their goods, inbound and outbound.

81 percent of the manufactured goods in Alabama are transported by the trucking sector. And then, you know, you, people think of the final mile, you know, stuff coming to their house or their, to their small business primarily comes, uh, on a truck. So it literally touches every single sector of the economy, every single household.

That’s one reason that we’re so You know, diligent about things that drive up the cost in the supply chain, because we understand, we see how that gets to the consumer. And we, you know, sometimes it’s so many steps removed. Consumers don’t always understand why the cost of things are going up. We understand because we’re, we’re that person getting hit with those costs, uh, oftentimes with those pressures.

Um, so, I mean, [00:06:00] that, those are, those are some of the ways, and I think, um. You know, just in general, uh, I think COVID had an impact, you know, one of the positive things coming out of COVID was, you know, we didn’t stop working. You know, we showed up, there’s a line I use often it’s crisis or Christmas truckers deliver the goods.

So when there’s a crisis, you don’t call your plaintiff’s attorney. You know, when you need aggregate or sand or water or power poles to get the power back on, you call, you call the trucking industry and other essential workers. And so we proved that during COVID. Um, you know, but I know that people have short memories.

Uh, so.

Bradley: Well, I remember during COVID when. All the people like me were looking for something to do. We started ordering stuff and doing all sorts of home improvement stuff. It had to get to us somehow, and it always did. I’ve had great, um, um, experience with that. Okay, let’s talk about how Alabama’s trucking infrastructure impacts the trucking industry.

One improvement, specifically the [00:07:00] new I 10 River Bridge and Bayway, should begin construction later this year, and it’ll probably bring tremendous efficiency to moving goods along the Gulf Coast. What improvements would you like to see?

Mark Colson: Well, infrastructure is essential for Alabamians to be successful.

It’s essential to trucking because number one, we need good infrastructure to have safe roads and bridges and everyone wants to be safe and every, we want everyone to get home safely. Uh, the, the I 10 Mobile River Bridge is a great example of one of the things I’m most proud of. Representing the trucking industry is the spirit by which we address problems.

We are problem solvers. We are great partners to sit at a table with someone. And I think when we do that, we get to the right solution. The I 10 Mobile River Bridge is a good example of, you know, how we can sit together and work through issues and communicate because, you know, truckers are going to use that bridge.

We’re going to, we’re going to help pay for that bridge. Yeah. Um, But, but there were times when we weren’t sitting at that table or we weren’t invited at that table. And then you don’t have that level of communication. [00:08:00] So I think about the way we address infrastructure needs in Alabama is you got to have all the people at the table and we’re one of those interested parties that are actually willing to work, you know, to, to find solutions.

So that, that is an essential one. Um, you know, I think. You know, just finding truck parking opportunities is another infrastructure need. I talked about that. You know, when you look, we’re, we’re an interstate commerce business, so our Alabama trucking members are operating all over the country. Alabama is not the worst state for truck parking, uh, but we certainly have opportunities to improve it, especially on some of our main thoroughfares like Birmingham and down here in Mobile.

And, you know, that takes communication with government officials, that takes a willingness to actually identify how you can solve that problem. Uh, there will be a pot of money, in my opinion, at the federal level that’s dedicated to truck parking in the near future. Uh, and I believe that was going to be the case whether there was a Republican or Democrat administration because there’s a heightened awareness to this being a major problem around the country.[00:09:00]

So that, that is, that is one of the areas I would like to see us collaborate with, with um, stakeholders, uh, throughout the state on.

Bradley: Great. It’s time for a brief sponsor break, but when we come back, we’ll discuss this year’s legislative session and tort reform. We’ll be right back. So

Ad: the most valuable thing that I believe the Chamber has brought to us, RS Moving and Warehousing, is the interaction with other businesses and customers and just getting us in front of the people that we need to be in front of between different events, bigger functions, smaller functions, between phone calls, texts, and emails, they’re always checking in on you.

For more information about joining the Chamber, visit mobilechamber. org.

Bradley: Back on the Mobile Matters podcast, we’re here with Mark Coulson, the president and CEO of the Alabama Trucking Association. The ATA actively engages with the Alabama legislature to advocate for policies that support and enhance the state’s trucking industry. Mark, what are some of the key [00:10:00] issues the ATA is focused on during this legislative session?

Mark Colson: Well, every legislative session, one of the things we use as an opportunity is to educate lawmakers. And I’d say both in Montgomery and in Washington, D. C., because in our industry, uh, both matter. I mean, probably more things in Washington, uh, you know, because we’re a federally regulated industry, impact our day to day lives, but it, number one is always safety.

So, you know, we’re, we’re always looking at regulatory. Uh, schemes, and we’re not anti regulation, but it needs to make sense. Yeah. So things that actually enhance safety, not just add a, you know, a burden to the company or to the driver. Um, so, you know, in Montgomery, that’s all, that’s always a key. Uh, we have a dedicated, uh, unit within the Alabama Law Enforcement, Law Enforcement Agency called the Motor Carrier Unit, and they are, uh, strictly focused on enforcing safety regulations and laws, uh, on, on our industry, and, and we welcome that.

And so we’ve taken an approach of building those relationships with the Federal Motor [00:11:00] Carrier Safety Administration who makes the rules and Alabama Law Enforcement Agency who enforces them. And so. Uh, we just believe we, we should sit at that table to work through issues so that we can focus on actual outcomes for safety, uh, safer roadways, as opposed to getting lost on some tangential regulatory item that has nothing to do with that.

And that happens as you know. And so that’s an approach we take in the legislature and, and also, um, You know, we, we pay a significant amount of roadway taxes, right? So we want to make sure, uh, that those taxes are actually going to improve infrastructure and not getting siphoned off for other things. So we, we focus on what we focus on that a lot, a lot.

And, uh, another one’s workforce development. I mean, we don’t, we’ve taken the approach as an industry. We don’t run to our policymakers and say, fix our problem, but we’ve taken the approach of. You know, we’ve got to communicate to people what job opportunities are out there, but at times we do need help from the workforce development.

I, that’s a changing landscape right now in the state. [00:12:00] So those are, those are three big areas that we’re always involved in in the legislature. And um, you know, depending on the year, there may be an issue that pops up more, but the big one right now is on, like you mentioned, on lawsuit abuse reform, tort reform.

Bradley: Well, let’s talk about that. Um, so you remember when I was in the legislature, I was sort of centrally involved with that. Um, and it’s a tough one because the plaintiff’s bar is very strong in this state and, uh, and they’re very, very good at what they do in, in the legislative realm. So before we get to all that, why is it a critical issue for businesses in Alabama?

Mark Colson: Well, I think it’s first important to define what we’re talking about. Look, I’m not an attorney, you are. Um, and so I’m not coming at it from a legal philosophy standpoint, but what we’re talking about when we talk about. Lawsuit abuse reform or, or tort reform or tort laws is not reforming things to protect bad actors.

We’re talking about things that are abused and using the legal system as a means for [00:13:00] fundraising or, or, or revenue creation. For people that aren’t the injured party, if there’s an injured party, everyone would say that person needs to be taken care of. But if you look at the statistics, the cost involved in litigation today, the rising insurance premiums, uh, the volume of litigation and our industry.

We can speak to it just because we get to see it a lot, but this impacts everyone, especially small businesses. And it really doesn’t get talked about 95 percent of cases settle out of court. So it’s hard to understand the full impact of those. But if you’re an individual business, you know, one lawsuit can take a fourth generation.

Family business down, even if you’re not at fault, even if you’re not at fault, which is, which is crazy.

Bradley: I actually had a meeting the other day with a former client of mine. He was raving about how we got to win the case and they turn around, but I still had to pay you. And people don’t realize you still got to pay your lawyer even if you win.

Mark Colson: Yeah. And, and folks are paying for that stuff. I mean, consumers are paying for it. Cost of doing it. And it’s one of those things [00:14:00] that’s not in everyone’s mind. So I think defining it is important. Uh, making sure that the justice system is there to, to, to provide justice, uh, to compensate injured parties, not for, you know, a financing company making profit or, uh, you know, all the different various games now that are played and tactics that are used to inflate the cost of the litigation, uh, right out of the gate.

And again, Our industry just gets to see it more than a lot. I mean, healthcare, you can talk to those, but it’s also interesting to me when you’ll sit in a political room in Montgomery and folks will just say, there, there are no problems. What are you talking about? And I don’t think they spend very many, uh, hours in the small businesses you represent around this town because if you walked in any one of them, I guarantee you, they got a story of how they faced a frivolous lawsuit.

And how it’s driven their costs up.

Bradley: Well, that’s what we failed to realize is that it is a cost. And every producer of a good or service, they’ve got to [00:15:00] figure in their cost of doing business. So, this is a real opportunity to make a difference for Alabama’s business climate. What can business owners and community leaders do?

support these efforts.

Mark Colson: The number one thing is educate policy makers, both at the local and state level, because they need to understand what they’re facing every day. We’re seeing that happen in sister competitive States. You’re seeing leaders in like governor of Georgia, the governor of Florida, they’ve they’re addressing this year.

And there’s no one size fits all fix, but you got to have a conversation about the problem. You know, when folks just say there is no problem, that’s the number one tactic. You know, you’re not going to solve a problem if you say it doesn’t exist. So educating lawmakers on what. What the problem is, um, showcasing to them how it impacts their business and daily lives, look at their insurance premium history and, you know, and then challenge, challenge the insurance industry as well.

I mean, they’re partners to every business out there cause you gotta have it, but there are things that probably need to be addressed in that world too. Um, But I, but I really think that communication and education has to happen. And right now [00:16:00] in Montgomery, it’s very difficult to do that. It’s very difficult to even have a conversation about it because the forum’s not there.

And so that’s, what’s got to change. And so I believe that’s trending in a good direction. Um, and, and again, what, what we focus on is the, the, the abuses. Because I’m not, as a, as a guy representing one sector of the economy, I’m not going to advocate that any bad actor is protected. That’s the story that gets told.

And so I think it’s got to be focused on the abuses that happen in the system and they happen every day. It’s costing, uh, communities jobs. There was a nuclear verdict just up the road in Clark County, 160 million verdict just for Clark County and Clark last year, 2024. Um, and so, you know, those things. As people understand how they’re impacting their daily lives, I think, uh, if they, you know, when the light gets shown on it, um, I believe we’ll be able to have a healthy discussion about it.

Bradley: Well, I can tell you, it’s a direct part of economic development. I [00:17:00] mean, we’ve got to be able to show these companies we’re trying to bring here, hey, we’re not bringing you to tort hell, because they’re very sensitized about that. Well, you know, we support you and your efforts there and other, other people you’re working with.

We know we got to develop some stats and we’re happy to do that. So Canada is one of your partners. Uh, okay. Thank you, Mark, for joining us today and for your leadership on this issue. Uh, we’re excited to see your leadership in action through 2025. From the heart of the mobile business community. This is Mobile Matters Podcast powered by Mobile Chamber

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