IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1773 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 16, 2007 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To limit the authority of the Secretary of Transportation 

to grant authority to motor carriers domiciled in Mexico 

to operate beyond United States municipalities and commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe American Roads 

3 Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON GRANTING AUTHORITY. 

5 The Secretary of Transportation may not grant au6 thority to a motor carrier domiciled in Mexico to operate 

7 beyond United States municipalities and commercial zones 

8 on the United States-Mexico border, except under the pilot 

9 program authorized by this Act. 

10 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 

12 may carry out, in accordance with section 350 of Public 

13 Law 107–87, section 31315(c) of title 49, United States 

14 Code, all Federal motor carrier safety laws and regula15 tions, and this Act, a pilot program that grants authority 

16 to not more than 100 motor carriers domiciled in Mexico 

17 to operate beyond United States municipalities and com18 mercial zones on the United States-Mexico border. 

19 (b) LIMITATION ON COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES

20 PARTICIPATING IN PILOT PROGRAM.—The number of 

21 commercial motor vehicles owned or leased by motor car22 riers domiciled in Mexico which may be used to participate 

23 in the pilot program shall not exceed 1,000. 

24 (c) PILOT PROGRAM PREREQUISITES.—The Sec25 retary may not initiate the pilot program under subsection 

26 (a) until— 


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1 (1) the Inspector General of the Department of 

2 Transportation submits to Congress and the Sec3 retary a report— 

4 (A) independently verifying that the De5 partment is in compliance with each of the re6 quirements of subsections (a) and (b) of section 

7 350 of Public Law 107–87; and 

8 (B) including a determination of whether 

9 the Department has established sufficient mech10 anisms— 

11 (i) to apply Federal motor carrier 

12 safety laws and regulations to motor car13 riers domiciled in Mexico; and 

14 (ii) to ensure compliance with such 

15 laws and regulations by motor carriers 

16 domiciled in Mexico who will be granted 

17 authority to operate beyond United States 

18 municipalities and commercial zones on the 

19 United States-Mexico border; 

20 (2) the Secretary of Transportation— 

21 (A) takes such action as may be necessary 

22 to address any issues raised in the report of the 

23 Inspector General under paragraph (1); and 

24 (B) submits to Congress a detailed report 

25 describing such actions; 


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1 (3) the Secretary determines that there is a 

2 program in effect for motor carriers domiciled in the 

3 United States to be granted authority to begin oper4 ations in Mexico beyond commercial zones on the 

5 United States-Mexico border; 

6 (4) the Secretary publishes in the Federal Reg7 ister and provides sufficient opportunity for public 

8 comment on the following: 

9 (A) a detailed description of the pilot pro10 gram and the amount of funds the Secretary 

11 will need to expend to carry out the pilot pro12 gram; 

13 (B) the findings of each pre-authorization 

14 safety audit conducted, before the date of en15 actment of this Act, by inspectors of the Fed16 eral Motor Carrier Safety Administration of 

17 motor carriers domiciled in Mexico and seeking 

18 to participate in the pilot program; 

19 (C) a process by which the Secretary will 

20 be able to revoke Mexico-domiciled motor car21 rier operating authority under the pilot pro22 gram; 

23 (D) specific measures to be required by the 

24 Secretary to protect the health and safety of 


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1 the public, including enforcement measures and 

2 penalties for noncompliance; 

3 (E) specific measures to be required by the 

4 Secretary to enforce the requirements of section 

5 391.11(b)(2) of title 49, Code of Federal Regu6 lations, as in effect on the date of enactment of 

7 this Act; 

8 (F) specific standards to be used to evalu9 ate the pilot program and compare any change 

10 in the level of motor carrier safety as a result 

11 of the pilot program; 

12 (G) penalties to be levied against carriers 

13 who, under the pilot program, violate section 

14 365.501(b) of title 49, Code of Federal Regula15 tions, as in effect on the date of enactment of 

16 this Act; 

17 (H) a list of Federal motor carrier safety 

18 laws and regulations for which the Secretary 

19 will accept compliance with a Mexican law or 

20 regulation as the equivalent to compliance with 

21 a corresponding Federal motor carrier safety 

22 law or regulation, including commercial driver’s 

23 license requirements; and 

24 (I) for any law or regulation referred to in 

25 subparagraph (H) for which compliance with a 


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1 Mexican law or regulation will be accepted, an 

2 analysis of how the requirements of the Mexi3 can and United States laws and regulations dif4 fer; and 

5 (5) the Secretary establishes an independent re6 view panel under section 4 to monitor and evaluate 

7 the pilot program. 

8 SEC. 4. INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PANEL.—The Secretary of 

10 Transportation shall establish an independent review 

11 panel to monitor and evaluate the pilot program under 

12 section 3. The panel shall be composed of 3 individuals 

13 appointed by the Secretary. 

14 (b) DUTIES.— 

15 (1) EVALUATION.—The independent review 

16 panel shall— 

17 (A) evaluate any effects that the pilot pro18 gram has on motor carrier safety, including an 

19 analysis of any crashes involving motor carriers 

20 participating in the pilot program and a deter21 mination of whether the pilot program has had 

22 an adverse effect on motor carrier safety; and 

23 (B) make, in writing, recommendations to 

24 the Secretary. 


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1 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—If the independent 

2 review panel determines that the pilot program has 

3 had an adverse effect on motor carrier safety, the 

4 panel shall recommend, in writing, to the Sec5 retary— 

6 (A) such modifications to the pilot pro7 gram as the panel determines are necessary to 

8 address such adverse effect; or 

9 (B) termination of the pilot program. 

10 (c) RESPONSE.—Not later than 5 days after the date 

11 of a written determination of the independent review panel 

12 that the pilot program has had an adverse effect on motor 

13 carrier safety, the Secretary shall take such action as may 

14 be necessary to address such adverse effect or terminate 

15 the pilot program. 

16 SEC. 5. INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General of the De18 partment of Transportation— 

19 (1) shall monitor and review the pilot program; 

20 (2) not later than 12 months after the date of 

21 initiation of the pilot program, shall submit to Con22 gress and the Secretary of Transportation a 12- 

23 month interim report on the Inspector General’s 

24 findings regarding the pilot program; and 


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1 (3) not later than 18 months after the date of 

2 initiation of the pilot program, shall submit to Con3 gress and the Secretary an 18-month interim report 

4 with the Inspector General’s findings regarding the 

5 pilot program. 

6 (b) SAFETY DETERMINATIONS.—The interim reports 

7 submitted under subsection (a) shall include the deter8 mination of the Inspector General of— 

9 (1) whether the Secretary has established suffi10 cient mechanisms to determine whether the pilot 

11 program is having any adverse effects on motor car12 rier safety; 

13 (2) whether the Secretary is taking sufficient 

14 action to ensure that motor carriers domiciled in 

15 Mexico and participating in the pilot program are in 

16 compliance with all Federal motor carrier safety 

17 laws and regulations and section 350 of Public Law 

18 107–87; and 

19 (3) the sufficiency of monitoring and enforce20 ment activities by the Secretary and States to ensure 

21 compliance with such laws and regulations by such 

22 carriers. 

23 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 60 days 

24 after the date of submission of the 18-month interim reVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:09 May 17, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1773.RFS H1773

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1 port of the Inspector General under this section, the Sec2 retary shall submit to Congress a report on— 

3 (1) the actions the Secretary is taking to ad4 dress any motor carrier safety issues raised in one 

5 or both of the interim reports of the Inspector Gen6 eral; 

7 (2) evaluation of the Secretary whether grant8 ing authority to additional motor carriers domiciled 

9 in Mexico to operate beyond United States munici10 palities and commercial zones on the United States11 Mexico border would have any adverse effects on 

12 motor carrier safety; 

13 (3) modifications to Federal motor carrier safe14 ty laws and regulations or special procedures that 

15 the Secretary determines are necessary to enhance 

16 the safety of operations of motor carriers domiciled 

17 in Mexico in the United States; and 

18 (4) any recommendations for legislation to 

19 make the pilot program permanent or to expand op20 erations of motor carriers domiciled in Mexico in the 

21 United States beyond municipalities and commercial 

22 zones on the United States-Mexico border. 

23 SEC. 6. DURATION OF PILOT PROGRAM. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation 

25 may carry out the pilot program under this Act for a peVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:09 May 17, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1773.RFS H1773

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1 riod not to exceed 3 years; except that, if the Secretary 

2 does not comply with any provision of this Act, the author3 ity of the Secretary to carry out the pilot program termi4 nates. 

5 (b) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after 

6 the last day of the pilot program, the Secretary shall sub7 mit to Congress a final report on the pilot program. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 15, 2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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