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American Trucking Associations Chairman Barbara Windsor told a House panel Wednesday that changes are needed to regulations governing hazardous materials shipments in order to improve efficiency and relieve unnecessary regulatory burdens.

The Commercial Vehicle Training Association presented its Highway Safety Hall of Fame Award to Warren Hoemann, senior vice president of industry affairs at American Trucking Associations.

Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) introduced a bill last week that would establish a database of drug testing information for truck and bus drivers.

The Texas House has given final approval to a bill that could raise the speed limit on some highways to 85 mph, the Associated Press reported.

Fueled by stronger manufacturing and demand for freight, the U.S. economy will grow at least at a 3.2% annual pace in 2011, and truck tonnage will rise 5%, according to several recent reports.

American Trucking Associations last week endorsed a federal proposal that trucking companies use electronic logging devices to monitor driver compliance with the hours-of-service rule.

While the U.S. economy continues to look better and better in many ways, there are some pretty powerful reasons for truckers to remain cautious, or at least watchful in the coming months.

Federal funding for highway projects and motor carrier safety programs will continue if the federal government shuts down after Friday, the Department of Transportation said.

Federal Reserve policy makers last month differed over whether to begin removing record stimulus this year as they debated the path of monetary policy after the completion of their $600 billion bond-purchase program.

The U.S. economy’s service sector declined in March but still showed expansion, the Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday.