The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is looking for comments on requests to exempt brokers and some freight forwarders from the new $75,000 bond requirement.

The Association of Independent Property Brokers and Agents asked for the exemption last August, before the requirement went into effect. The International Association of Movers filed a similar request in November on behalf of freight forwarders that serve Defense Department household goods movers.

AIPBA has been fighting the bond requirement since Congress mandated it in last year’s highway bill. Most recently, the association lost a federal appeals court bid to delay enforcement of the bond.

The requirement went into effect December 1, and since then some 2,000 brokers have lost their licenses because they either surrendered them or failed to comply.

While AIPBA has resisted the requirement, other brokers, third-party service providers and owner-operators have supported it.

The International Association of Movers filed for its exemption in November, arguing that the bond requirement is geared toward protecting commercial consumers rather than Defense Department movers. The cost of the bond is being passed on to the Defense Department but provides no benefit to the department, the group said.

The agency said it is starting a proceeding to determine if these forwarders should be exempt from the requirement.

Comments in both matters are due by January 27.