Senate infrastructure bill leaves out truckers’ liability insurance hike | Overdrive

Text of the U.S. Senate’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that was announced last week became available Sunday, August 1. It contains numerous trucking-related provisions, such as requiring automatic emergency braking systems, improving underride guards, establishing a CDL apprenticeship pilot program and more.

Notably missing from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, however, is a provision to increase carriers’ liability insurance minimum from $750K to $2 million, a provision included in the House’s infrastructure bill passed earlier this summer.

The Senate’s bill also does not explicitly earmark funding for expanding truck parking capacity – the House bill did.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said it generally supports the Senate version of the bill, “since it had none of the anti-trucking provisions contained in the House version,” but noted that not including funding for truck parking “is inexcusable.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) plans for Senators to vote on the bill before the summer recess, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 9 but could be delayed, according to reports. The Senate is expected to start debating on and amending the bill as early as today. It will face stiff challenges in the House, however, as Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, last week called the Senate’s measure complete “crap,” according to the Associated Press. Other public reports note DeFazio is pressing for a conference committee to resolve differences between House and Senate measures.

Some notable trucking-related provisions contained in the Senate bill includes a measure to require a study of truck and bus crash causation, and: