DRIVE-SAFE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1745 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations relating to commercial motor vehicle drivers under the age of 21, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2021 Mr. HOLLINGSWORTH (for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. COOPER, Mr. BALDERSON, Mr. GOLD- EN, and Mrs. HINSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations relating to commercial motor vehicle drivers under the age of 21, 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 ‘‘Developing Respon- 4 sible Individuals for a Vibrant Economy Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘DRIVE-SAFE Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM FOR COMMERCIAL 7 DRIVERS UNDER THE AGE OF 21. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1745 IH (1) APPRENTICE.—The term ‘‘apprentice’’ 1 means an employee under the age of 21 who holds 2 a commercial driver’s license required to operate a 3 class of vehicles described in part 383 of title 49, 4 Code of Federal Regulations. 5 (2) COMMERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE.—The 6 term ‘‘commercial driver’s license’’ has the meaning 7 given the term in section 31301 of title 49, United 8 States Code. 9 (3) COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term 10 ‘‘commercial motor vehicle’’ means a commercial 11 motor vehicle that meets the definition under para- 12 graph (1) or (4) of the definition of the term ‘‘com- 13 mercial motor vehicle’’ in section 390.5 of title 49, 14 Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 15 date of enactment of this Act). 16 (4) DRIVING TIME.—The term ‘‘driving time’’ 17 has the meaning given the term in section 395.2 of 18 title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 19 the date of enactment of this Act). 20 (5) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 21 meaning given such term in section 31132 of title 22 49, United States Code. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1745 IH (6) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ has the 1 meaning given such term in section 31132 of title 2 49, United States Code. 3 (7) EXPERIENCED DRIVER.—The term ‘‘experi- 4 enced driver’’ means an individual who— 5 (A) is not less than 21 years of age; 6 (B) has held a commercial driver’s license 7 for the 2-year period ending on the date on 8 which the individual serves as an experienced 9 driver under subsection (c)(3)(B); 10 (C) has had no preventable accidents re- 11 portable to the Department of Transportation 12 or pointed moving violations during the 1-year 13 period ending on the date on which the indi- 14 vidual serves as an experienced driver under 15 subsection (c)(3)(B); and 16 (D) has a minimum of 2 years of experi- 17 ence driving a commercial motor vehicle in 18 interstate commerce. 19 (8) ON-DUTY TIME.—The term ‘‘on-duty time’’ 20 has the meaning given the term in section 395.2 of 21 title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 22 the date of enactment of this Act). 23 (9) POINTED MOVING VIOLATION.—The term 24 ‘‘pointed moving violation’’ means a violation that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1745 IH results in points being added to the license of a driv- 1 er, or a similar comparable violation, as determined 2 by the Secretary. 3 (10) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 4 means the Secretary of Transportation. 5 (b) APPRENTICE.—An apprentice may— 6 (1) drive a commercial motor vehicle in inter- 7 state commerce while taking part in the 120-hour 8 probationary period under subsection (c)(1) or the 9 280-hour probationary period under subsection 10 (c)(2), pursuant to an apprenticeship program estab- 11 lished by an employer in accordance with this sec- 12 tion; and 13 (2) drive a commercial motor vehicle in inter- 14 state commerce after the apprentice completes an 15 apprenticeship program described in paragraph (1). 16 (c) APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM.—An apprenticeship 17 program referred to in subsection (b) is a program that 18 consists of the following requirements: 19 (1) 120-HOUR PROBATIONARY PERIOD.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The apprentice shall 21 complete 120 hours of on-duty time, of which 22 not less than 80 hours are driving time in a 23 commercial motor vehicle. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1745 IH (B) PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS.—In 1 order to complete the 120-hour probationary 2 period under subparagraph (A), an employer 3 shall determine that the apprentice is com- 4 petent in each of the following areas: 5 (i) Interstate, city traffic, rural 2- 6 lane, and evening driving. 7 (ii) Safety awareness. 8 (iii) Speed and space management. 9 (iv) Lane control. 10 (v) Mirror scanning. 11 (vi) Right and left turns. 12 (vii) Logging and complying with 13 rules relating to hours of service. 14 (2) 280-HOUR PROBATIONARY PERIOD.— 15 (A) IN GENERAL.—After completing the 16 120-hour probationary period under paragraph 17 (1), the apprentice shall complete 280 hours of 18 on-duty time, of which not less than 160 hours 19 are driving time in a commercial motor vehicle. 20 (B) PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS.—In 21 order to complete the 280-hour probationary 22 period under subparagraph (A), an employer 23 shall determine that the apprentice is com- 24 petent in each of the following areas: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1745 IH (i) Backing and maneuvering in close 1 quarters. 2 (ii) Pre-trip inspections. 3 (iii) Fueling procedures. 4 (iv) Weighing loads, weight distribu- 5 tion, and sliding tandems. 6 (v) Coupling and uncoupling proce- 7 dures. 8 (vi) Trip planning, truck routes, map 9 reading, navigation, and permits. 10 (3) RESTRICTIONS FOR 120-HOUR AND 280- 11 HOUR PROBATIONARY PERIODS.—During the 120- 12 hour probationary period under paragraph (1) and 13 the 280-hour probationary period under paragraph 14 (2)— 15 (A) the apprentice may only drive a com- 16 mercial motor vehicle that has— 17 (i) automatic manual or automatic 18 transmissions; 19 (ii) active braking collision mitigation 20 systems; 21 (iii) forward-facing video event cap- 22 ture; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1745 IH (iv) governed speeds of 65 miles per 1 hour at the pedal and 65 miles per hour 2 under adaptive cruise control; and 3 (B) the apprentice shall be accompanied in 4 the cab of the commercial motor vehicle by an 5 experienced driver. 6 (4) RECORDS RETENTION.—The employer shall 7 maintain records, in a manner required by the Sec- 8 retary, relating to the satisfaction of the require- 9 ments of paragraphs (1)(B) and (2)(B) by the ap- 10 prentice. 11 (5) REPORTABLE INCIDENTS.—If the appren- 12 tice is involved in a preventable accident reportable 13 to the Department of Transportation or a pointed 14 moving violation while driving a commercial motor 15 vehicle as part of an apprenticeship program de- 16 scribed in this subsection, the apprentice shall un- 17 dergo remediation and additional training until the 18 apprentice can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of 19 the employer, competence in each of the performance 20 benchmarks described in paragraphs (1)(B) and 21 (2)(B). 22 (6) COMPLETION OF PROGRAM.—The appren- 23 tice shall be considered to have completed the ap- 24 prenticeship program on the date on which the ap- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1745 IH prentice completes the 280-hour probationary period 1 under paragraph (2). 2 (7) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act 4 prevents an employer from imposing additional 5 requirements on an apprentice taking part in 6 an apprenticeship program established pursuant 7 to this section. 8 (B) TECHNOLOGIES.—Nothing in this Act 9 prevents an employer from requiring or install- 10 ing additional technologies in a commercial 11 motor vehicle in addition to the technologies de- 12 scribed in paragraph (3)(A). 13 (d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 14 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promul- 15 gate regulations to implement this Act. 16 (e) NO EFFECT ON LICENSE REQUIREMENT.—Noth- 17 ing in this Act exempts an apprentice from any require- 18 ment to hold a commercial driver’s license in order to op- 19 erate a commercial motor vehicle. 20 (f) EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITY.—An employer shall 21 not knowingly allow, require, permit, or authorize a driver 22 under the age of 21 to operate a commercial motor vehicle 23 in interstate commerce unless the driver is participating 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1745 IH in or has completed an apprenticeship program that meets 1 the requirements of subsection (c). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:35 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1745.IH H1745 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS