Promoting Women in Trucking Workforce Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1341 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Mr. GALLAGHER (for himself and Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 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 01:56 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1341 IH (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 01:56 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1341 IH (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-SIZE TRUCKING COMPANY.—The term 11 ‘‘mid-size trucking company’’ means a motor carrier 12 (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 01:56 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1341 IH 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 promote organizations 5 and programs that— 6 (1) provide education, training, mentorship, or 7 outreach to women in the trucking industry; and 8 (2) 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 strategies and objectives 16 described in 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 01:56 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1341 IH (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 01:56 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1341 IH (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 01:56 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1341 IH (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 describing strate- 7 gies that the Administrator may adopt— 8 (A) to address any industry trends identi- 9 fied under paragraph (1)(A); 10 (B) to coordinate the functions of trucking 11 companies, nonprofit organizations, and truck- 12 ing associations in a manner that facilitates 13 support for women pursuing careers in truck- 14 ing; 15 (C)(i) to take advantage of any opportuni- 16 ties identified under paragraph (1)(C); and 17 (ii) to create new opportunities to expand 18 existing scholarship opportunities for women in 19 the trucking industry; and 20 (D) to enhance trucking training, 21 mentorship, education, and outreach programs 22 that are exclusive to women. 23 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Mar 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1341 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 1 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 2 shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 3 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 4 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 5 the House of Representatives a report describing— 6 (A) any strategies recommended by the 7 Board under subsection (c)(2); and 8 (B) any actions taken by the Adminis- 9 trator to adopt the strategies recommended by 10 the Board (or an explanation of the reasons for 11 not adopting the strategies). 12 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Administrator 13 shall make the report under paragraph (1) publicly 14 available— 15 (A) on the website of the Federal Motor 16 Carrier Safety Administration; and 17 (B) in appropriate offices of the Federal 18 Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 19 (e) TERMINATION.—The Board shall terminate on 20 submission of the report to Congress under subsection (d). 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Mar 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1341.IH H1341 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS