I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3665

To amend title 49, United States Code, relating to penalty amounts for

civil violations of Federal motor carrier safety regulations, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 22, 1993

Mrs. MORELLA (for herself and Ms. BYRNE) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, relating to penalty

amounts for civil violations of Federal motor carrier safety regulations, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Motor Carrier Safety

5 Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings:
2

•HR 3665 IH

1 (1) The Federal motor carrier safety regula2 tions need to be strengthened to improve informa3 tion provided to motor carriers about past safety

4 performance of drivers and to improve supporting

5 documentation for records of duty status.

6 (2) The final penalties imposed on motor car7 riers for violations of Federal motor carrier safety

8 regulations are sometimes too small to motivate ef9 fective compliance with the safety regulations.

10 (3) Penalties are too often considered part of

11 the cost of doing business.

12 (4) The Federal Highway Administration’s abil13 ity to promote compliance would be increased by set14 ting minimum penalty amounts and by increasing

15 the current maximum penalties allowed for such vio16 lations.

17 (5) Minimum penalty amounts would send the

18 message to the motor carrier industry that violations

19 of the Federal motor carrier safety regulations are

20 significantly more serious than traffic violations.

21 (6) Imposition of minimum civil penalties would

22 increase uniformity of penalties among different re23 gions of the Federal Highway Administration.

24 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
3

•HR 3665 IH

1 (1) to increase the maximum penalty amounts

2 for civil violations of Federal motor carrier safety

3 regulations;

4 (2) to set a minimum penalty amount for such

5 violations of Federal motor carrier safety regula6 tions; and

7 (3) to improve information provided to motor

8 carriers about past safety performance of drivers

9 and to improve supporting documentation for

10 records of duty status.

11 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF MINIMUM AMOUNT AND IN12 CREASED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS.

13 Section 521(b)(2)(A) of title 49, United States Code,

14 is amended—

15 (1) by striking ‘‘not to exceed $500’’ and in16 serting ‘‘not less than $500 and not to exceed

17 $1,000’’;

18 (2) by striking ‘‘not exceed $2,500’’ and insert19 ing ‘‘not be less than $500 and shall not exceed

20 $5,000’’;

21 (3) by striking ‘‘$1,000’’ each place it appears

22 and inserting ‘‘$2,000’’;

23 (4) by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ the first place it ap24 pears and inserting ‘‘$20,000’’; and
4

•HR 3665 IH

1 (5) by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ the second place it

2 appears and inserting ‘‘$25,000’’.

3 SEC. 4. DRIVER’S RECORD OF DUTY STATUS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans6 portation shall promulgate regulations amending section

7 395.8(k) of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to re8 quire that any supporting document bearing on the record

9 of duty status of a driver who operates a commercial

10 motor vehicle—

11 (1) be retained, by the motor carrier using such

12 driver, for at least 6 months following receipt of

13 such document by the motor carrier; and

14 (2) include information identifying the driver

15 and vehicle related to the document.

16 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘support17 ing document’’ means any electronic or paper document

18 or record generated in the normal course of business, in

19 the provision of transportation by commercial motor vehi20 cle, that could be used by a safety inspector or motor car21 rier to verify the accuracy of entries in a driver’s record

22 of duty status, including trip reports, pay slips, bills of

23 lading or shipping papers, and receipts for fuel, lodging,

24 and tolls.
5

•HR 3665 IH

1 SEC. 5. SAFETY PERFORMANCE HISTORY OF NEW DRIVERS.

2 (a) AMENDMENT OF REGULATIONS.—Within 18

3 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

4 Secretary of Transportation shall amend section 391.23

5 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to—

6 (1) specify the safety information that must be

7 sought under that section by a motor carrier with

8 respect to a driver;

9 (2) require that such information be requested

10 from former employers and that former employers

11 furnish the requested information within 30 days

12 after receiving the request; and

13 (3) ensure that the driver to whom such infor14 mation applies has a reasonable opportunity to re15 view and comment on the information.

16 (b) SAFETY INFORMATION.—The safety information

17 required to be specified under subsection (a)(1) shall in18 clude information on—

19 (1) any motor vehicle accidents in which the

20 driver was involved during the preceding 3 years;

21 (2) any failure of the driver, during the preced22 ing 3 years, to undertake or complete a rehabilita23 tion program under section 12020 of the Commer24 cial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (49 U.S.C.

25 App. 2701) after being found to have used, in viola-
6

•HR 3665 IH

1 tion of law or Federal regulation, alcohol or a con2 trolled substance;

3 (3) any use by the driver, during the preceding

4 3 years, in violation of law or Federal regulation of

5 alcohol or a controlled substance subsequent to com6 pleting such a rehabilitation program; and

7 (4) any other matters determined by the Sec8 retary of Transportation to be appropriate and use9 ful for determining the driver’s safety performance.

10 (c) FORMER EMPLOYER.—For purposes of this sec11 tion, a former employer is any person who employed the

12 driver in the preceding 3 years.

Æ