OTA Dispatch Issue 3, 2021

6 Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch Mark Gibson, Chair OTA in Action Committee/ President, Siskiyou Transportation TECHNOLOGY IS NOW part of our everyday lives. We check our phones before going to bed and when waking up. We get our news online. We watch TV and movies on demand. I will admit that having my entire song library on my phone is easier than crating around eight-track tapes (As Jana mentioned in her column, if you don’t get the reference—Google it!). We typically seek out new technology to make our work and personal lives easier or more efficient. You’ll see a lot of new—but still optional— technology talked about in this issue of the Dispatch; however, what happens when we have technology thrust upon us? When it’s a requirement to keep our businesses functioning? When it becomes the method by which our government chooses to govern? Before the COVID-19 pandemic, video conferencing (most commonly referred to as Zoom these days) was a convenience, something to do when a phone call wasn’t enough and meeting in person just wasn’t possible. Once coronavirus hit our shores and the lockdowns, shutdowns, and mask mandates became an everyday reality, so did our reliance on Zoom or Teams. Oregon’s 2021 legislative session was a primary example of this. With the Capitol building a ghost town, legislators and decisionmakers took to the virtual world. Committee meetings, workgroups, and listening sessions were all online. I understand that the concept of making an online connection is not new—the number of dating sites can attest to that; however, there is no Match.com for legislators and the voters, lobbyists, and groups like OTA who want to share information and have a conversation. Instead, we were relegated to being a head inside a box in a field of other boxes on a computer screen—if we were lucky. It was hard to be the voice of trucking when someone else was controlling Zoom’s mute feature. “Back-room deals” became “offline discussions.” Turning off your webcam or sending a DM (that’s “direct message” for those of you over the age of 30) became methods of circumventing group interaction and open debates. We weren’t able to roam the halls or drop in on legislators to share our concerns. It’s hard to tell what kind of long-term impacts this concept of virtual lawmaking will have on our future legislative process. Will it become an option for legislators to join from their vacation homes in another state? Can it be considered a quorum if half of a party is voting via Zoom? Would the architects of our system of governance be impressed by this innovation, or shake their heads in dismay? Should creating the laws that govern industries and individuals be easy or convenient, just because technology makes it possible? I don’t have answers to these questions—even if I use Google. I do know that this year’s virtual legislative session, as well as committee and agency meetings, cemented the need for OTA members to join the online discussions or even testify via Zoom. Submitting comments by email or completing online surveys is also now vital to ensuring that trucking maintains a seat at the table…even if that table is now an online meeting queue. Look for the emails from Jana and OTA asking for your participation. In many situations in 2021, we had meetings, listening sessions, and comment opportunities quickly come up or shift dates/times. Answer the call, add your voice, and be an active participant in shaping the future of trucking in Oregon. If you don’t do it, someone else will fill the void—and they won’t always have the same shared goals that we as OTA members have! OTA IN ACTION “I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots.” –Albert Einstein