I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7457 
To establish a national motor carrier safety selection standard for entities 
that contract with certain motor carriers to transport goods, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 1, 2020 
Mr. GIBBS (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To establish a national motor carrier safety selection stand-
ard for entities that contract with certain motor carriers 
to transport goods, 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 Carrier Safety 
Selection Standard Act’’. 
SEC. 2. MOTOR CARRIER SELECTION STANDARD OF CARE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) SELECTION STANDARD.—For any applicable 
legal requirement with respect to a covered entity 
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contracting with a covered motor carrier for the 
shipment of goods or household goods, the covered 
entity shall be considered reasonable and prudent in 
the selection of such motor carrier if the covered en-
tity verifies, not later than the date of shipment and 
not earlier than 45 days before the date of shipment, 
that the covered motor carrier— 
(A) is registered under section 13902 of 
title 49, United States Code, as a motor carrier 
or household goods motor carrier; 
(B) has at least the minimum insurance 
coverage required by Federal and State law; 
and 
(C) is not determined unfit to operate safe-
ly commercial motor vehicles under section 
31144 of title 49, United States Code, or other-
wise ordered to discontinue operations by the 
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 
(including not renewing a Department of 
Transportation registration number) or a State. 
(2) SUNSET.—The standard established under 
paragraph (1) shall sunset on the effective date of 
a regulation issued pursuant to subsection (c). 
(b) 
REVOCATION
OF
REGISTRATION.—Section 
31144(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 
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(1) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘and’’; 
(2) in paragraph (4) by striking the period and 
inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) prescribe by regulation a process for revok-
ing the registration of an owner or operator deter-
mined unfit to operate safely a commercial motor ve-
hicle under this section.’’. 
(c) RULEMAKING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall— 
(A) update and revise the regulations 
issued pursuant to subsection (b) of section 
31144 to include the requirements of subsection 
(a); and 
(B) issue such regulations as are necessary 
to carry out section 31144(a)(5), as added by 
this Act. 
(2) FACTORS FOR AN UNSATISFACTORY RAT-
ING.—The regulations updated under paragraph 
(1)(A) shall provide a procedure for the Secretary to 
determine if a motor carrier is not fit to operate a 
commercial motor vehicle in or affecting interstate 
commerce in accordance with such section. 
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(d) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to preempt or supercede any State law or regu-
lation relating to drayage. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en-
tity’’ means a person acting as— 
(A) a shipper or cosignee of goods, except 
that such term does not mean a person acting 
as an individual shipper (as such term is de-
fined in section 13103 of title 49, United States 
Code); 
(B) a broker, a freight forwarder, or a 
household goods freight forwarder (as such 
terms are defined in section 13102 of title 49, 
United States Code); 
(C) an ocean transportation intermediary 
(as such term is defined in section 40102 of 
title 46, United States Code), when arranging 
for inland transportation as part of an inter-
national through movement involving ocean 
transportation between the United States and a 
foreign port; 
(D) an indirect air carrier holding a 
Standard Security Program approved by the 
Transportation Security Administration, only to 
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the extent that the indirect air carrier is engag-
ing in the activities as an air carrier as defined 
in section 40102(2) or in the activities defined 
in section 40102(3); 
(E) a customs broker licensed in accord-
ance with section 111.2 of title 19, Code of 
Federal Regulations, only to the extent that the 
customs broker is engaging in a movement 
under a customs bond or in a transaction in-
volving customs business, as defined by section 
111.1 of title 19, Code of Federal Regulations; 
or 
(F) a motor carrier registered under chap-
ter 139 of title 49, United States Code. 
(2) COVERED
MOTOR
CARRIER.—The term 
‘‘covered motor carrier’’ means a motor carrier or a 
household goods motor carrier (as such terms are 
defined in section 13102 of title 49, United States 
Code) that is subject to Federal motor carrier finan-
cial responsibility and safety regulations. 
(3) HOUSEHOLD GOODS.—The term ‘‘household 
goods’’ has the meaning given the term in section 
13102 of title 49, United States Code. 
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