House OKs Transportation Bill, Opposes Raising Insurance Requirements for Truck Companies

Despite Democrats’ objections over the bill’s proposed funding for infrastructure grant programs, the GOP-led House on June 10 narrowly passed a fiscal 2015 transportation funding bill 229-192.

The amended $52 billion legislation that would fund the country’s transportation system is about $1.2 billion more than the fiscal 2014 enacted level and about $8 billion less than the Obama administration’s fiscal 2015 budget request.

Before voting to advance the bill to the Senate the House adopted an amendment, by a vote of 214-212, that would prohibit the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Agency from raising its liability insurance requirements for trucking and bus companies.

Since 1985 such companies have been expected to carry insurance up to $750,000. In calling on colleagues for their support, Rep. Steve Daines (R-Montana) said his amendment would “let the small business owners decide what they want to insure.”

The spending bill also would allow state transportation officials to have higher weight limits for trucks if U.S. Route 41 in Wisconsin and U.S. Route 78 in Mississippi are designated as part of the interstate system. The bill would allow Idaho to have longer combination trucks on its stretch of the interstate system if the trucks have a gross weight of 129,000 pounds or less and are authorized to operate under state law.

In a policy paper released June 9, the White House objected to those trucking provisions, noting that they “weaken highway safety by altering or revising the existing safety regulations for motor carrier operators.” The administration stressed that changes to size and weight policies on highways should occur after the Department of Transportation releases a study on the issue. A report is due out in mid-November.

Overall, the fiscal 2015 Transportation and Housing and Urban Development spending would roll back the Obama administration’s efforts in fiscal 2015 to help states and cities finance road construction projects through a popular grant program. The legislation would mostly prohibit Texas from imposing tolls on its existing interstate system and, like a Senate version, it does not propose a long-term funding system to shore up a depleting federal highway account. The account, the Highway Trust Fund, is used by the Department of Transportation to help states pay for infrastructure projects and it is projected to run out of money as early as late July.

Additionally, the House bill would require the FMCSA to prove to Congress a restart restriction rule is valuable to the trucking industry. The Senate version, which could be debated on the floor as early as next week, would suspend for one year changes to the hours-of-service restart provision the FMCSA implemented last year.