DRIVE-Safe Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 569 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 26, 2019 Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Mr. TESTER, Mr. MORAN, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. KING, and Mr. COTTON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 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 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 569 IS (1) APPRENTICE.—The term ‘‘apprentice’’ 1 means an individual under the age of 21 who holds 2 a commercial driver’s license. 3 (2) COMMERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE.—The 4 term ‘‘commercial driver’s license’’ has the meaning 5 given the term in section 31301 of title 49, United 6 States Code. 7 (3) COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term 8 ‘‘commercial motor vehicle’’ has the meaning given 9 the term in section 390.5 of title 49, Code of Fed- 10 eral Regulations (as in effect on the date of enact- 11 ment of this Act). 12 (4) DRIVING TIME.—The term ‘‘driving time’’ 13 has the meaning given the term in section 395.2 of 14 title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 15 the date of enactment of this Act). 16 (5) EXPERIENCED DRIVER.—The term ‘‘experi- 17 enced driver’’ means an individual who— 18 (A) is not less than 21 years of age; 19 (B) has held a commercial driver’s license 20 for the 2-year period ending on the date on 21 which the individual serves as an experienced 22 driver under subsection (c)(3)(B); 23 (C) has had no preventable accidents re- 24 portable to the Department of Transportation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 569 IS or pointed moving violations during the 1-year 1 period ending on the date on which the indi- 2 vidual serves as an experienced driver under 3 subsection (c)(3)(B); and 4 (D) has a minimum of 2 years of experi- 5 ence driving a commercial motor vehicle in 6 interstate commerce. 7 (6) ON-DUTY TIME.—The term ‘‘on-duty time’’ 8 has the meaning given the term in section 395.2 of 9 title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 10 the date of enactment of this Act). 11 (7) POINTED MOVING VIOLATION.—The term 12 ‘‘pointed moving violation’’ means a violation that 13 results in points being added to the license of a driv- 14 er, or a similar comparable violation, as determined 15 by the Secretary. 16 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 17 the Secretary of Transportation. 18 (b) APPRENTICE.—An apprentice may— 19 (1) drive a commercial motor vehicle in inter- 20 state commerce while taking part in the 120-hour 21 probationary period under subsection (c)(1) or the 22 280-hour probationary period under subsection 23 (c)(2), pursuant to an apprenticeship program estab- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 569 IS lished by an employer in accordance with this sec- 1 tion; and 2 (2) drive a commercial motor vehicle in inter- 3 state commerce after the apprentice completes an 4 apprenticeship program described in paragraph (1). 5 (c) APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM.—An apprenticeship 6 program referred to in subsection (b) is a program that 7 consists of the following requirements: 8 (1) 120-HOUR PROBATIONARY PERIOD.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The apprentice shall 10 complete 120 hours of on-duty time, of which 11 not less than 80 hours are driving time in a 12 commercial motor vehicle. 13 (B) PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS.—In 14 order to complete the 120-hour probationary 15 period under subparagraph (A), an employer 16 shall determine that the apprentice is com- 17 petent in each of the following areas: 18 (i) Interstate, city traffic, rural 2- 19 lane, and evening driving. 20 (ii) Safety awareness. 21 (iii) Speed and space management. 22 (iv) Lane control. 23 (v) Mirror scanning. 24 (vi) Right and left turns. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 569 IS (vii) Logging and complying with 1 rules relating to hours of service. 2 (2) 280-HOUR PROBATIONARY PERIOD.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—After completing the 4 120-hour probationary period under paragraph 5 (1), the apprentice shall complete 280 hours of 6 on-duty time, of which not less than 160 hours 7 are driving time in a commercial motor vehicle. 8 (B) PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS.—In 9 order to complete the 280-hour probationary 10 period under subparagraph (A), an employer 11 shall determine that the apprentice is com- 12 petent in each of the following areas: 13 (i) Backing and maneuvering in close 14 quarters. 15 (ii) Pre-trip inspections. 16 (iii) Fueling procedures. 17 (iv) Weighing loads, weight distribu- 18 tion, and sliding tandems. 19 (v) Coupling and uncoupling proce- 20 dures. 21 (vi) Trip planning, truck routes, map 22 reading, navigation, and permits. 23 (3) RESTRICTIONS FOR 120-HOUR AND 280- 24 HOUR PROBATIONARY PERIODS.—During the 120- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 569 IS hour probationary period under paragraph (1) and 1 the 280-hour probationary period under paragraph 2 (2)— 3 (A) the apprentice may only drive a com- 4 mercial motor vehicle that has— 5 (i) automatic manual or automatic 6 transmissions; 7 (ii) active braking collision mitigation 8 systems; 9 (iii) forward-facing video event cap- 10 ture; and 11 (iv) governed speeds of 65 miles per 12 hour at the pedal and 65 miles per hour 13 under adaptive cruise control; and 14 (B) the apprentice shall be accompanied in 15 the cab of the commercial motor vehicle by an 16 experienced driver. 17 (4) RECORDS RETENTION.—The employer shall 18 maintain records, in a manner required by the Sec- 19 retary, relating to the satisfaction of the require- 20 ments of paragraphs (1)(B) and (2)(B) by the ap- 21 prentice. 22 (5) REPORTABLE INCIDENTS.—If the appren- 23 tice is involved in a preventable accident reportable 24 to the Department of Transportation or a pointed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 569 IS moving violation while driving a commercial motor 1 vehicle as part of an apprenticeship program de- 2 scribed in this subsection, the apprentice shall un- 3 dergo remediation and additional training until the 4 apprentice can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of 5 the employer, competence in each of the performance 6 benchmarks described in paragraphs (1)(B) and 7 (2)(B). 8 (6) COMPLETION OF PROGRAM.—The appren- 9 tice shall be considered to have completed the ap- 10 prenticeship program on the date on which the ap- 11 prentice completes the 280-hour probationary period 12 under paragraph (2). 13 (7) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.— 14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act 15 prevents an employer from imposing additional 16 requirements on an apprentice taking part in 17 an apprenticeship program established pursuant 18 to this section. 19 (B) TECHNOLOGIES.—Nothing in this Act 20 prevents an employer from requiring or install- 21 ing additional technologies in a commercial 22 motor vehicle in addition to the technologies de- 23 scribed in paragraph (3)(A). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 569 IS (d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 1 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promul- 2 gate regulations to implement this Act. 3 (e) NO EFFECT ON LICENSE REQUIREMENT.—Noth- 4 ing in this Act exempts an apprentice from any require- 5 ment to hold a commercial driver’s license in order to op- 6 erate a commercial motor vehicle. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:16 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S569.IS S569 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS