Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7457 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 JULY 1, 2020 Mr. GIBBS (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) 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 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7457.IH H7457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7457 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 (2) SUNSET.—The standard established under 21 paragraph (1) shall sunset on the effective date of 22 a regulation issued pursuant to subsection (c). 23 (b) REVOCATION OF REGISTRATION.—Section 24 31144(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7457.IH H7457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7457 IH (1) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘and’’; 1 (2) in paragraph (4) by striking the period and 2 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(5) prescribe by regulation a process for revok- 5 ing the registration of an owner or operator deter- 6 mined unfit to operate safely a commercial motor ve- 7 hicle under this section.’’. 8 (c) RULEMAKING.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 11 retary shall— 12 (A) update and revise the regulations 13 issued pursuant to subsection (b) of section 14 31144 to include the requirements of subsection 15 (a); and 16 (B) issue such regulations as are necessary 17 to carry out section 31144(a)(5), as added by 18 this Act. 19 (2) FACTORS FOR AN UNSATISFACTORY RAT- 20 ING.—The regulations updated under paragraph 21 (1)(A) shall provide a procedure for the Secretary to 22 determine if a motor carrier is not fit to operate a 23 commercial motor vehicle in or affecting interstate 24 commerce in accordance with such section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7457.IH H7457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7457 IH (d) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this Act shall be 1 construed to preempt or supercede any State law or regu- 2 lation relating to drayage. 3 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 4 (1) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en- 5 tity’’ means a person acting as— 6 (A) a shipper or cosignee of goods, except 7 that such term does not mean a person acting 8 as an individual shipper (as such term is de- 9 fined in section 13103 of title 49, United States 10 Code); 11 (B) a broker, a freight forwarder, or a 12 household goods freight forwarder (as such 13 terms are defined in section 13102 of title 49, 14 United States Code); 15 (C) an ocean transportation intermediary 16 (as such term is defined in section 40102 of 17 title 46, United States Code), when arranging 18 for inland transportation as part of an inter- 19 national through movement involving ocean 20 transportation between the United States and a 21 foreign port; 22 (D) an indirect air carrier holding a 23 Standard Security Program approved by the 24 Transportation Security Administration, only to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7457.IH H7457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7457 IH the extent that the indirect air carrier is engag- 1 ing in the activities as an air carrier as defined 2 in section 40102(2) or in the activities defined 3 in section 40102(3); 4 (E) a customs broker licensed in accord- 5 ance with section 111.2 of title 19, Code of 6 Federal Regulations, only to the extent that the 7 customs broker is engaging in a movement 8 under a customs bond or in a transaction in- 9 volving customs business, as defined by section 10 111.1 of title 19, Code of Federal Regulations; 11 or 12 (F) a motor carrier registered under chap- 13 ter 139 of title 49, United States Code. 14 (2) COVERED MOTOR CARRIER.—The term 15 ‘‘covered motor carrier’’ means a motor carrier or a 16 household goods motor carrier (as such terms are 17 defined in section 13102 of title 49, United States 18 Code) that is subject to Federal motor carrier finan- 19 cial responsibility and safety regulations. 20 (3) HOUSEHOLD GOODS.—The term ‘‘household 21 goods’’ has the meaning given the term in section 22 13102 of title 49, United States Code. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7457.IH H7457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7457 IH (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1 the Secretary of Transportation. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7457.IH H7457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS