Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3042 To establish a national motor carrier safety selection standard for entities that contract with certain motor carriers to transport goods, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 Mr. GALLAGHER (for himself and Mr. MOULTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To establish a national motor carrier safety selection stand- ard for entities that contract with certain motor carriers to transport goods, 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 ‘‘Motor Carrier Safety 4 Selection Standard Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. MOTOR CARRIER SELECTION STANDARD OF CARE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.— 7 (1) SELECTION STANDARD.—For any applicable 8 legal requirement with respect to a covered entity 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3042.IH H3042 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3042 IH contracting with a covered motor carrier for the 1 shipment of goods or household goods, the covered 2 entity shall be considered reasonable and prudent in 3 the selection of such motor carrier if the covered en- 4 tity verifies, not later than the date of shipment and 5 not earlier than 45 days before the date of shipment, 6 that the covered motor carrier— 7 (A) is registered under section 13902 of 8 title 49, United States Code, as a motor carrier 9 or household goods motor carrier; 10 (B) has at least the minimum insurance 11 coverage required by Federal and State law; 12 and 13 (C) is not determined unfit to operate safe- 14 ly commercial motor vehicles under section 15 31144 of title 49, United States Code, or other- 16 wise ordered to discontinue operations by the 17 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 18 (including not renewing a Department of 19 Transportation registration number) or a State, 20 for intrastate commerce. 21 (2) SUNSET.—The standard established under 22 paragraph (1) shall sunset on the effective date of 23 a regulation issued pursuant to subsection (c). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3042.IH H3042 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3042 IH (b) REVOCATION OF REGISTRATION.—Section 1 31144(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 2 (1) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘and’’; 3 (2) in paragraph (4) by striking the period and 4 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 5 (3) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(5) prescribe by regulation a process for revok- 7 ing the registration of an owner or operator deter- 8 mined unfit to operate safely a commercial motor ve- 9 hicle under this section.’’. 10 (c) RULEMAKING.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 12 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 13 retary shall— 14 (A) update and revise the regulations 15 issued pursuant to subsection (b) of section 16 31144 to include the requirements of subsection 17 (a); and 18 (B) issue such regulations as are necessary 19 to carry out section 31144(a)(5), as added by 20 this Act. 21 (2) FACTORS FOR AN UNSATISFACTORY RAT- 22 ING.—The regulations updated under paragraph 23 (1)(A) shall provide a procedure for the Secretary to 24 determine if a motor carrier is not fit to operate a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3042.IH H3042 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3042 IH commercial motor vehicle in or affecting interstate 1 commerce in accordance with such section. 2 (d) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this Act shall be 3 construed to preempt or supercede any State law or regu- 4 lation relating to drayage. 5 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 6 (1) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en- 7 tity’’ means a person acting as— 8 (A) a shipper or cosignee of goods, except 9 that such term does not mean a person acting 10 as an individual shipper (as such term is de- 11 fined in section 13103 of title 49, United States 12 Code); 13 (B) a broker, a freight forwarder, or a 14 household goods freight forwarder (as such 15 terms are defined in section 13102 of title 49, 16 United States Code); 17 (C) an ocean transportation intermediary 18 (as such term is defined in section 40102 of 19 title 46, United States Code), when arranging 20 for inland transportation as part of an inter- 21 national through movement involving ocean 22 transportation between the United States and a 23 foreign port; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3042.IH H3042 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3042 IH (D) an indirect air carrier holding a 1 Standard Security Program approved by the 2 Transportation Security Administration, only to 3 the extent that the indirect air carrier is engag- 4 ing in the activities as an air carrier as defined 5 in section 40102(2) or in the activities defined 6 in section 40102(3); 7 (E) a customs broker licensed in accord- 8 ance with section 111.2 of title 19, Code of 9 Federal Regulations, only to the extent that the 10 customs broker is engaging in a movement 11 under a customs bond or in a transaction in- 12 volving customs business, as defined by section 13 111.1 of title 19, Code of Federal Regulations; 14 or 15 (F) a motor carrier registered under chap- 16 ter 139 of title 49, United States Code. 17 (2) COVERED MOTOR CARRIER.—The term 18 ‘‘covered motor carrier’’ means a motor carrier or a 19 household goods motor carrier (as such terms are 20 defined in section 13102 of title 49, United States 21 Code) that is subject to Federal motor carrier finan- 22 cial responsibility and safety regulations. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3042.IH H3042 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3042 IH (3) HOUSEHOLD GOODS.—The term ‘‘household 1 goods’’ has the meaning given the term in section 2 13102 of title 49, United States Code. 3 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 4 the Secretary of Transportation. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3042.IH H3042 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS