II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 469 To require the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administra- tion to establish an advisory board focused on creating opportunities for women in the trucking industry, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Mr. MORAN (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. FISCHER, and Mr. TESTER) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To require the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to establish an advisory board fo- cused on creating opportunities for women in the truck- ing industry, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Women in 4 Trucking Workforce Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 469 IS (1) women make up 47 percent of the work- 1 force of the United States; 2 (2) women are significantly underrepresented in 3 the trucking industry, holding only 24 percent of all 4 transportation and warehousing jobs and rep- 5 resenting only— 6 (A) 6.6 percent of truck drivers; 7 (B) 12.5 percent of all workers in truck 8 transportation; and 9 (C) 8 percent of freight firm owners; 10 (3) given the total number of women truck driv- 11 ers, women are underrepresented in the truck-driv- 12 ing workforce; and 13 (4) women truck drivers have been shown to be 14 20 percent less likely than male counterparts to be 15 involved in a crash. 16 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING WOMEN IN 17 TRUCKING. 18 It is the sense of Congress that the trucking industry 19 should explore every opportunity to encourage and support 20 the pursuit and retention of careers in trucking by women, 21 including through programs that support recruitment, 22 driver training, and mentorship. 23 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 24 In this Act: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 469 IS (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 1 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 2 Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 3 (2) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 4 Women of Trucking Advisory Board established 5 under section 5(a). 6 (3) LARGE TRUCKING COMPANY.—The term 7 ‘‘large trucking company’’ means a motor carrier (as 8 defined in section 13102 of title 49, United States 9 Code) with more than 100 power units. 10 (4) MID-SIZED TRUCKING COMPANY.—The term 11 ‘‘mid-sized trucking company’’ means a motor car- 12 rier (as defined in section 13102 of title 49, United 13 States Code) with not fewer than 11 power units 14 and not more than 100 power units. 15 (5) POWER UNIT.—The term ‘‘power unit’’ 16 means a self-propelled vehicle under the jurisdiction 17 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 18 (6) SMALL TRUCKING COMPANY.—The term 19 ‘‘small trucking company’’ means a motor carrier 20 (as defined in section 13102 of title 49, United 21 States Code) with not fewer than 1 power unit and 22 not more than 10 power units. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 469 IS SEC. 5. WOMEN OF TRUCKING ADVISORY BOARD. 1 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—To encourage women to enter 2 the field of trucking, the Administrator shall establish and 3 facilitate an advisory board, to be known as the ‘‘Women 4 of Trucking Advisory Board’’, to review and report on 5 policies and programs— 6 (1) to provide education, training, mentorship, 7 or outreach to women in the trucking industry; and 8 (2) to recruit, retain, or advance women in the 9 trucking industry. 10 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall be com- 12 posed of not fewer than 8 members whose back- 13 grounds, experience, and certifications allow those 14 members to contribute balanced points of view and 15 diverse ideas regarding the objectives described in 16 subparagraphs (A) through (D) of subsection (c)(2). 17 (2) APPOINTMENT.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 19 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 20 the Administrator shall appoint the members of 21 the Board, of whom— 22 (i) not fewer than 1 shall be a rep- 23 resentative of large trucking companies; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 469 IS (ii) not fewer than 1 shall be a rep- 1 resentative of mid-sized trucking compa- 2 nies; 3 (iii) not fewer than 1 shall be a rep- 4 resentative of small trucking companies; 5 (iv) not fewer than 1 shall be a rep- 6 resentative of nonprofit organizations in 7 the trucking industry; 8 (v) not fewer than 1 shall be a rep- 9 resentative of trucking business associa- 10 tions; 11 (vi) not fewer than 1 shall be a rep- 12 resentative of independent owner-opera- 13 tors; 14 (vii) not fewer than 1 shall be a 15 woman who is a professional truck driver; 16 and 17 (viii) not fewer than 1 shall be a rep- 18 resentative of an institution of higher edu- 19 cation or trucking trade school. 20 (B) DIVERSITY.—A member of the Board 21 appointed under any of clauses (i) through (viii) 22 of subparagraph (A) may not be appointed 23 under any other clause of that subparagraph. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 469 IS (3) TERMS.—Each member shall be appointed 1 for the life of the Board. 2 (4) COMPENSATION.—A member of the Board 3 shall serve without compensation. 4 (c) DUTIES.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall identify— 6 (A) barriers and industry trends that di- 7 rectly or indirectly discourage women from pur- 8 suing and retaining careers in trucking, includ- 9 ing— 10 (i) any differences between women mi- 11 nority groups; 12 (ii) any differences between women 13 who live in rural, suburban, and urban 14 areas; and 15 (iii) any safety risks unique to the 16 trucking industry; 17 (B) ways in which the functions of truck- 18 ing companies, nonprofit organizations, training 19 and education providers, and trucking associa- 20 tions may be coordinated to facilitate support 21 for women pursuing careers in trucking; 22 (C) opportunities to expand existing oppor- 23 tunities for women in the trucking industry; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 469 IS (D) opportunities to enhance trucking 1 training, mentorship, education, advancement, 2 and outreach programs that are exclusive to 3 women. 4 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 5 date of enactment of this Act, the Board shall sub- 6 mit to the Administrator a report containing the 7 findings and recommendations of the Board, includ- 8 ing recommendations that companies, associations, 9 institutions, other organizations, or the Adminis- 10 trator may adopt— 11 (A) to address any industry trends identi- 12 fied under paragraph (1)(A); 13 (B) to coordinate the functions of trucking 14 companies, nonprofit organizations, and truck- 15 ing associations in a manner that facilitates 16 support for women pursuing careers in truck- 17 ing; 18 (C)(i) to take advantage of any opportuni- 19 ties identified under paragraph (1)(C); and 20 (ii) to create new opportunities to expand 21 existing scholarship opportunities for women in 22 the trucking industry; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 469 IS (D) to enhance trucking training, mentor- 1 ship, education, and outreach programs that 2 are exclusive to women. 3 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 5 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 6 shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 7 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 8 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 9 the House of Representatives a report describing— 10 (A) any recommendations of the Board 11 submitted to the Administrator under sub- 12 section (c)(2); and 13 (B) any actions taken by the Adminis- 14 trator to adopt the those recommendations (or 15 an explanation of the reasons for not adopting 16 the recommendations). 17 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Administrator 18 shall make the report under paragraph (1) publicly 19 available— 20 (A) on the website of the Federal Motor 21 Carrier Safety Administration; and 22 (B) in appropriate offices of the Federal 23 Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 469 IS (e) TERMINATION.—The Board shall terminate on 1 submission of the report to Congress under subsection (d). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S469.IS S469 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS