I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6884 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a penalty for a freight 
broker that contracts with an unsafe carrier, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 18, 2025 
Mr. MOOLENAAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a penalty 
for a freight broker that contracts with an unsafe carrier, 
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 ‘‘Patrick and Barbara 
Kowalski Freight Brokers Safety Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PENALTY FOR CONTRACTING WITH UNSAFE CAR-
RIER. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 149 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘§ 14917. Penalty for contracting with unsafe carrier 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any broker under this part that 
contracts with any specified transportation company shall 
be liable to the United States for a civil penalty in an 
amount equal to 10 percent of the value of the contracted 
cargo for the entire contract of such broker with the speci-
fied transportation company. 
‘‘(b) DEPOSIT IN HIGHWAY TRUST FUND.—The Sec-
retary shall deposit any penalty collected under subsection 
(a) into the Highway Trust Fund. 
‘‘(c) USE
OF FUNDS.—The Secretary may use 
amounts deposited under subsection (b) without further 
appropriation for projects or infrastructure eligible under 
this title or title 23 that increase roadway safety. 
‘‘(d) SPECIFIED TRANSPORTATION COMPANY DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘specified transportation 
company’ means a person that transports cargo for com-
pensation that, in the 5-year period ending on the date 
on which a broker contracts with the specified transpor-
tation company— 
‘‘(1) has been issued 3 or more Department of 
Transportation violations; or 
‘‘(2) employs a driver that has been issued 3 or 
more Department of Transportation violations. 
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‘‘§ 14918. Investigations of certain crashes 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Fed-
eral Motor Carrier Safety Administration may investigate 
a freight broker following a fatal crash by a company con-
tracted by such freight broker. 
‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.—Fol-
lowing an investigation conducted pursuant to subsection 
(a), the Administrator may establish additional operating 
requirements on a freight broker if the Administrator 
found in such investigation that the broker acted with 
egregious disregard for safety in contracting the company 
that was involved in such accident.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap-
ter 149 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘14917. Penalty for contracting with unsafe carrier. 
‘‘14918. Investigations of certain crashes.’’. 
Æ 
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