I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2967

To amend the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 to require the Secretary

of Transportation to issue regulations and encourage the States to adopt

and implement laws prohibiting the operation of certain uncovered commercial motor vehicles on highways.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 6, 1993

Mr. LIPINSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 to require

the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations and

encourage the States to adopt and implement laws prohibiting the operation of certain uncovered commercial

motor vehicles on highways.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commercial Motor Ve5 hicle Safety Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) it is in the public interest to prohibit the

2 operation of certain uncovered commercial motor ve3 hicles and thereby reduce highway fatalities, injuries,

4 and property damage otherwise associated with such

5 operation; and

6 (2) State governments can assist the Federal

7 Government in assuring the safe operation of com8 mercial motor vehicles by enacting laws prohibiting

9 the operation of certain uncovered commercial motor

10 vehicles.

11 SEC. 3. COVERED LOAD REQUIREMENT.

12 The Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 (49 U.S.C.

13 App. 2501–2520) is amended by adding at the end thereof

14 the following:

15 ‘‘SEC. 231. COVERED LOAD REQUIREMENT.

16 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—Not later than 120 days after

17 the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary

18 shall initiate a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of

19 issuing regulations prohibiting any person from operating,

20 or causing to be operated, on any street or highway, any

21 commercial motor vehicle with an open load of dirt, aggre22 gate, garbage, tailings, wood chips, refuse, or other similar

23 loose material, unless the load is secured or enclosed with

24 a tarpaulin or other covering sufficient to prevent any por25 tion of the material from rolling of, falling from, blowing
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1 off, dropping from, or otherwise escaping from the vehicle.

2 The Secretary shall issue such regulations not later than

3 1 year after such date of enactment.

4 ‘‘(b) STATE LAW COMPATIBILITY.—If at any time in

5 a fiscal year beginning after September 30, 1995, a State

6 does not have in effect a law compatible with the regula7 tions issued by the Secretary under subsection (a), the

8 Secretary, notwithstanding any other provision of law,

shall transfer an amount equal to 11 9 ⁄2 percent of the funds

10 apportioned to the State under each of subsections (b)(1),

11 (b)(2), and (b)(3) of title 23, United States Code, to the

12 apportionment of the State under section 402 of title 23,

13 United States Code. The Federal share of the cost of any

14 project carried out with funds transferred under this sec15 tion shall be 100 percent.

16 ‘‘(c) TRANSFER OF OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—If the

17 Secretary transfers under this section any funds to the

18 State for a fiscal year for highway safety programs under

19 section 402 of title 23, United States Code, the Secretary

20 shall allocate an amount of obligation authority distrib21 uted for such fiscal year to the State for Federal-aid high22 ways and highway safety programs for carrying out only

23 projects under such section 402 which is determined by

24 multiplying—
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1 ‘‘(1) the amount of the funds transferred to the

2 apportionment of such section 402 of the State

3 under this section for such fiscal year; by

4 ‘‘(2) the ratio of the amount of obligation au5 thority distributed for such fiscal year to the State

6 for Federal-aid highways and highway safety con7 struction programs to the total of the sums appor8 tioned to the State for Federal-aid highways and

9 highway safety construction (excluding sums not

10 subject to any obligation limitation) for such fiscal

11 year.

12 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON APPLICABILITY OF HIGHWAY

13 SAFETY OBLIGATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other pro14 vision of law, no limitation on the total obligations for

15 highway safety programs carried out by the Federal High16 way Administration under section 402 of title 23, United

17 States Code, shall apply to funds transferred under this

18 section to the apportionment of the State under such sec19 tion 402.’’.

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

21 Section 204 of the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984

22 (49 U.S.C. App. 2503) is amended by adding at the end

23 the following new paragraph:

24 ‘‘(14) AGGREGATE.—The term ‘aggregate’

25 means any ore, mineral, sand, gravel, shale, coal,
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1 clay, limestone, crushed stone, or other ore or min2 eral which is mined.’’.

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