Trucking news and briefs for Monday, March 18, 2024:
A bill making its way through the Senate with bipartisan support would eliminate redundant fees and background checks for transportation workers.
The Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act, introduced by Senators Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Jon Tester (D-Montana), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), and Angus King (I-Maine), was previously introduced in the House by Representatives.
The Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act allows workers to apply existing valid background checks to multiple TSA-managed credentialing programs, such as the Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC) program and the Hazardous Materials Endorsement. Harmonizing these programs and eliminating duplicative screenings, the bill would codify formal recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office dating back to 2007. Those recommendations have since been reaffirmed in a comprehensive security assessment conducted in 2020 by the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center.
The American Trucking Associations last year led a coalition of more than 150 organizations representing trucking, rail, energy, organized labor, agriculture, third-party logistics providers, and other key supply chain stakeholders in support of the bill.
"Subjecting essential supply chain workers to the same exact background check multiple times in order to receive different credentials from the same agency does nothing to enhance security,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. "This system only serves to pad government coffers by forcing truckers and other transportation workers to pay duplicative fees for a background check they’ve already cleared."
Spear noted that "this long-overdue reform" would reduce costs and hassles for truck and pipeline operators, longshoremen, and warehouse managers, among many others who must obtain these credentials as a condition of employment. The bill does not make any modifications to the backend security assessment conducted on individual applicants, ensuring that they undergo the same level of review as they do under current law.
