CTA President Lynnette Brown Gives Opening Remarks at ATA Long Beach Conference

Yesterday, CTA President Lynnnette Brown with KKW Trucking, Inc. kicked off ATA's Safety, Security, and Human Resources Conference in Long Beach. 

CTA President Lynnette Brown's Opening Remarks 

On behalf of the California Trucking Association I would like to extend a warm welcome to the American Trucking Association’s Safety Management Council & Transportation Security Council. My name is Lynnette Brown, CFO for KKW Trucking based in Pomona, CA and 2018 CTA President. I am a second generation trucker and am honored to represent this industry and welcome you this morning.

On this observance of Veteran’s Day, I would like to thank all of our veterans for the service & the sacrifices you all have made to protect our freedom. As we all know, veterans are a big part of the trucking industry as I know many of our companies welcome them into our organizations when they return to civilian life.

To kick off this conference in sunny Southern California I would like to share a few statistics about our state. Here in California, 1 in 20 jobs are connected to the trucking industry paying out $36.8 billion dollars in wages. California boasts 136,950 trucking companies based in our state, most of which are small, privately owned. Trucking is vital in our state with over 77% of California communities depending exclusively on trucks. Trucks will also be vital to help rebuild the communities that have recently been devastated by fires in both Northern & Southern California.

We are also an industry that is under constant attack by lawmakers in our state; by unchecked PAGA lawsuits; and by overreaching environmental regulations. I’m sure over the next couple of days you will likely touch on many of these “California” landmines that you all need to navigate in your day to day jobs. I have no doubt that this conference will provide vital information to help you succeed when you return to your companies.

Enjoy the conference!