II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1524

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the creation of a

certification program for Motor Carrier Safety Specialists and certain

informational requirements in order to promote highway safety through

a comprehensive review of motor carriers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 5, 1999

Mr. BREAUX introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the

creation of a certification program for Motor Carrier

Safety Specialists and certain informational requirements

in order to promote highway safety through a comprehensive review of motor carriers.

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 Specialist Certification Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st

2 Century provides for the Secretary of Transpor3 tation to work in partnership with States and other

4 political jurisdictions to establish programs to im5 prove motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, and

6 driver safety, to support a safe and efficient trans7 portation system by focusing resources on strategic

8 safety investments, to promote safe for-hire and

9 private transportation, including transportation of

10 passengers and hazardous materials, to identify

11 high-risk carriers and drivers, and to invest in activi12 ties likely to generate maximum reductions in the

13 number and severity of commercial motor vehicle

14 crashes.

15 (2) The Department of Transportation’s Office

16 of Inspector General Report on the Federal Highway

17 Administration’s Motor Carrier Safety Program

18 found that established policies and procedures do

19 not ensure that motor carrier safety regulations are

20 enforced.

21 (3) The Report also found that the Safety Sta22 tus Measurement System (known as ‘‘SafeStat’’),

23 which was implemented to identify and target motor

24 carriers with high-risk safety records, cannot target

25 all carriers with the worst records because its data-
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1 base is incomplete and inaccurate, and data input is

2 not timely.

3 (4) Testimony by the General Accounting Office

4 before the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee

5 on Transportation and Related Agencies indicated

6 that SafeStat’s ability to target high-risk carriers is

7 also limited by out-of-date census data.

8 (5) There are no procedures in place to certify

9 Federal, State, and private motor carrier safety spe10 cialists and no standards to ensure consistent carrier

11 compliance reviews.

12 (6) There are no established protocols for ac13 ceptance of data from third-party or non-Federal or

14 non-State motor carrier safety specialists, which de15 tail the safety factors of motor carriers.

16 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide

17 for the creation of a certification program for Motor Car18 rier Safety Specialists and to establish certain informa19 tional requirements in order to promote highway safety

20 through a comprehensive review of motor carriers.

21 SEC. 3. CREATION OF A CERTIFICATION PROGRAM FOR

22 MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY SPECIALISTS.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 311 of title 49, United

24 States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the

25 following:
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1 ‘‘§ 31148. Certified motor carrier safety specialists

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transpor3 tation, in consultation with the Motor Carrier Safety Spe4 cialist Certification Board, shall establish a program for

5 the training and certification of Federal, State and local

6 government, and nongovernmental motor carrier safety

7 specialists by an organization described in section

8 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that is—

9 ‘‘(1) exempt from taxation under section

10 501(c)(1) of such Code established for the exclusive

11 purpose of developing and administering training,

12 testing, and certification procedures for motor car13 rier safety specialists; and

14 ‘‘(2) designated by the Secretary as the entity

15 for carrying out the requirements of this section.

16 ‘‘(b) CERTIFIED COMPLIANCE REVIEW REQUIRED.—

17 No safety compliance review under this chapter, or re18 quired by this chapter, chapter 315, or the regulations in

19 part 390 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, more

20 than 3 years after the date of enactment of the Motor

21 Carrier Safety Specialist Certification Act is valid unless

22 it is conducted by a motor carrier safety specialist certified

23 under the program established under subsection (a).’’.
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal2 ysis for chapter 311 of title 49, United States Code, is

3 amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

‘‘31148. Certified motor carrier safety specialists.’’.

4 SEC. 4. PHASE-IN OF CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary

6 of Transportation shall establish the program required by

7 section 31148(a) of title 49, United States Code, within

8 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act.

9 (b) CERTIFICATION OF FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER

10 SAFETY SPECIALISTS.—The Secretary shall ensure that—

11 (1) within 24 months after the date of enact12 ment of this Act—

13 (A) at least 50 percent of the employees of

14 the Department of Transportation who perform

15 reviews to determine compliance of carriers in

16 accordance with regulations promulgated by the

17 Secretary of Transportation, and

18 (B) all State and local government employ19 ees who perform such compliance reviews, are

20 certified under the program established under

21 section 31148 of title 49, United States Code;

22 and

23 (2) within 36 months after such date, all Fed24 eral, State and local employees, and all non-govern-
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1 mental personnel, performing such compliance re2 views are so certified.

3 SEC. 5. CLEARINGHOUSE FUNCTION.

4 (a) VERIFICATION OF INFORMATION.—Section

5 31106(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by

6 adding at the end of the following:

7 ‘‘(5) In carrying out the provisions of this sec8 tion and section 31309, the Secretary shall accept

9 and include information, subject to verification by a

10 clearinghouse designated by the Motor Carrier Safe11 ty Specialist Certification Board, obtained from non12 governmental motor carrier safety specialists cer13 tified under section 31148. The Secretary of Trans14 portation shall work with the Motor Carrier Safety

15 Specialist Certification Board and State Govern16 ments to establish by January 1, 2001 data ex17 change protocols that will enable the Secretary of

18 Transportation to process data received from motor

19 carrier safety specialists certified under section

20 31148.’’.

21 (b) INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO PUBLIC.—Section

22 31106(e) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by

23 adding at the end the following: ‘‘The Secretary of Trans24 portation shall ensure that information obtained from

25 motor carrier safety specialists certified under section
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1 31148 of title 49, United States Code, is made available

2 to the public, in accordance with such policy, in an easily

3 accessible and understandable manner through the clear4 inghouse designated by the Motor Carrier Safety Spe5 cialist Certification Board no later than January 1,

6 2002.’’.

7 SEC. 6. PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNCTION.

8 The Secretary of Transportation shall work with the

9 Motor Carrier Safety Specialist Certification Board to es10 tablish and carry out a public education campaign to pro11 mote the use of safety performance information available

12 under chapter 311 of title 49, United States Code, for the

13 purpose of encouraging the use of such information in the

14 decision-making process for hiring motor carriers.

15 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

16 MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY SPECIALIST.—A Motor

17 Carrier Safety Specialist is an individual who:

18 (1) is responsible for conducting regulatory

19 compliance reviews and safety inspections of com20 mercial motor carriers,

Æ