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visible indicators of the need for investment and improvement. That cost of doing nothing is too high – a fact leaders in Washington seem to agree upon. From President Trump to members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, there appears to be strong momentum around the idea of crafting a significant infrastructure investment package. Getting an infrastructure package together and passed – with adequate attention paid to the needs of our highway system – is the American Trucking Associations' top priority. The ATA has been vocal in communicating the need for infrastructure investment with the Administration, as well as with key members of Congress, and will continue to advocate on this key issue. While most of the transportation community's attention is focused on this soon-to-be-released investment package, ATA is also working to advance our pro-trucking, pro-safety, pro-efficiency agenda in other areas. Last year, ATA was able to secure relief from burdensome Obama-era changes to the hours-of-service restart rules, addressing one of our industry's most significant concerns. We are now turning our attention to delivering relief to the trucking industry from attempts by states to enforce unnecessary, duplicative break rules on truckers whose breaks are already governed by nationally uniform rules. As an industry that operates across state lines, we need a single rule governing how drivers must organize their time. Congress recognized this in 1994, and we have been working to ensure that they reassert themselves in 2017 and preempt this inefficient, counterproductive patchwork. ATA is also taking a leadership role on the issue of automated vehicle technology. While there have been an increasing amount of stories recently about a "driverless" future for our industry, most new technologies are actually "driver assist." Driving a truck is the most common job in 29 states – one in 16 Americans is employed in a trucking-related job. Rather than losing jobs to technologic advances, we are facing a driver shortage. The technologies that are being developed today have the potential to make the job of driving a truck easier, while reducing emissions, congestion, and efficiency. In order to unlock that potential, trucking as an interstate industry needs a national framework so that the rules of palletcentral.com PalletCentral • May-June 2017 27 While most of the transpor tation community's attention is focused on this soon-to-be-released infrastructure investment package, ATA is also working to advance our pro-trucking, pro-safety, pro-efficiency agenda in other areas.