I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3628 
To require motor carriers to mitigate hardships due to unwarranted and 
excessive passenger delays and to assess fines to bolster motor carriers’ 
accountability to consumers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2019 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. CARSON of 
Indiana, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. FUDGE, 
Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. 
ADAMS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CLAY, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. BISHOP of 
Georgia, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. RICHMOND, Mrs. BEATTY, 
Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. BASS, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. LEE of Cali-
fornia, and Ms. PRESSLEY) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To require motor carriers to mitigate hardships due to un-
warranted and excessive passenger delays and to assess 
fines to bolster motor carriers’ accountability to con-
sumers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Motor Carriers Ac-
countability Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PASSENGER DELAYS IN INTERSTATE MOTOR CAR-
RIER TRANSPORTATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 141 of 
title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘§ 14105. Passenger delays in interstate motor carrier 
transportation 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date on which 
a motor carrier operates a covered trip, each such motor 
carrier shall adopt a contingency plan for excessive pas-
senger delays on covered trips. 
‘‘(b) COMPLIANCE.—Each motor carrier operating a 
covered trip shall adhere to the terms of the plan adopted 
pursuant to subsection (a). 
‘‘(c) CONTENTS.—A contingency plan described in 
subsection (a) shall include the following conditions: 
‘‘(1) A motor carrier will not let passengers un-
dergo a covered delay unless there are safety-related 
or security-related issues. 
‘‘(2) A motor carrier will provide adequate food 
and water if passengers undergo a covered delay. 
‘‘(3) A motor carrier will ensure there are oper-
able lavatory facilities at stations. 
‘‘(4) A motor carrier will provide a full refund 
of the price of a passenger’s ticket if a passenger 
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undergoes a covered delay and will provide the re-
mainder of the trip to the passenger without charge. 
‘‘(5) For a period of 2 years after the date of 
any covered delay, a motor carrier will retain any 
records containing the following information: 
‘‘(A) The length of such delay. 
‘‘(B) The cause of such delay. 
‘‘(C) Actions taken to minimize hardships 
for passengers, including the provision of food 
and water and the maintenance and servicing of 
lavatories. 
‘‘(6) A motor carrier will include in the contin-
gency plan a statement about its compliance with 
section 374.311 of title 49, Code of Federal Regula-
tions. 
‘‘(d) REQUIRED NOTIFICATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A motor carrier operating 
a covered trip shall notify passengers of— 
‘‘(A) a known delayed arrival of 1 or more 
hours after the scheduled arrival time on a sin-
gle one-way ticket; 
‘‘(B) cancellations; and 
‘‘(C) diversions. 
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‘‘(2) TRAVEL STATUS.—A motor carrier oper-
ating a covered trip shall notify passengers of travel 
status information— 
‘‘(A) in the boarding area of the station; 
‘‘(B) on the website of such motor carrier; 
‘‘(C) on the mobile application of such 
motor carrier; and 
‘‘(D) through the telephone reservation 
system of such motor carrier, upon inquiry by 
any person. 
‘‘(3) UPDATE.—In the case of a covered delay, 
a motor carrier shall provide passengers an update 
on the delay at a frequency of not less than once 
every 30 minutes. 
‘‘(e) PENALTIES.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, the following penalties apply with respect to 
this section: 
‘‘(1) A motor carrier is liable to the United 
States for a civil penalty, in an amount to be deter-
mined by the Secretary, for a covered delay that is 
unwarranted and unannounced. 
‘‘(2) A motor carrier shall pay a penalty de-
scribed in paragraph (1) not later than the date that 
is 14 days after the date on which a covered delay 
occurs. 
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‘‘(3) The penalty described in paragraph (1) 
shall be not less than $50,000. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) COVERED
DELAY.—The term ‘covered 
delay’ means a delayed arrival of 3 or more hours 
after the scheduled arrival time on a single one-way 
ticket of a covered trip. 
‘‘(2) COVERED TRIP.—The term ‘covered trip’ 
means a trip on a motor carrier that is operating 
such trip pursuant to scheduled passenger services 
on a standard coach bus with 50 or more seats. 
‘‘(3) DIVERSION.—The term ‘diversion’ means 
any unknown delays, including mechanical issues, in-
volvement in a car accident, or passenger emer-
gencies. 
‘‘(4) PASSENGER.—The term ‘passenger’ means 
a passenger on a covered trip.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of chap-
ters for chapter 141 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new item: 
‘‘14105. Passenger delays in interstate motor carrier transportation.’’. 
Æ 
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