WASHINGTON — Truck drivers would be eligible for up to $10,000 in tax credits, along with training incentives, as part of new bipartisan legislation aimed at retaining and recruiting drivers.
The Safer Highways and Increased Performance for Interstate Trucking (SHIP IT) Act, introduced on Tuesday by U.S. Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Jim Costa, D-Calif., also incorporates truck parking funding and an hours-of-service exemption for livestock haulers — long-sought measures by drivers and carriers.
The lawmakers called the bill a “sweeping overhaul of the interstate trucking supply chain system.” Johnson sees it as an extension to last year’s Ocean Shipping Reform Act.
“Last year we addressed ocean shipping reform, and it’s clear that updates are needed for other parts of the supply chain. The SHIP IT Act will bridge gaps, keep costs down for consumers, and make it easier for shippers to move products across the U.S.,” Johnson commented in introducing the bill.
“We need to recruit, train, and retain truck drivers to keep our supply chain moving, while also updating best practices to improve trucking to fit our modern economy,” Costa said. “That is why we introduced this bipartisan legislation to strengthen the workforce and make it easier to move products across the country.”
Drivers holding a Class A CDL would have to make adjusted gross income of not more than $90,000 or $135,000 per year, depending on their filing status, to be eligible for a $7,500 tax credit, according to the 28-page bill. A driver would be required to have had at least 1,900 hours of on-duty time, including driving time. New truck drivers who did not drive a truck during the preceding tax year would be eligible for $10,000 under the same rules.
The legislation would also amend the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which helps job seekers access employment and training, to allow truck drivers to offset entry-level driver training costs “including the cost of course materials, supplies, technology, and fees for graduation, licensure, or certification.”
Dedicated funding to expand truck parking — $755 million over the next four years — is incorporated into the bill and includes many of the eligibility requirements that were in Senate and House truck parking capacity bills introduced in the last Congress.
The legislation also would loosen hours-of-service restrictions on agriculture and livestock haulers, as well as make it easier for states to waive hours-of-service rules during emergencies.
Several shipper groups have come out early in support of the legislation, including the Shippers Coalition, the Consumer Brands Association and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), whose members are concerned that trucking industry constraints could hinder growth and investments.
“This bill removes numerous regulatory barriers that will make it easier for truckers to do their job — delivering critical products across the country,” said ACC President and CEO Chris Jahn.
“These regulatory reforms are vital to meeting the current and future transportation needs of our industry, as well as the farmers, manufacturers and energy producers who depend on the business of chemistry. We strongly urge Congress to pass this legislation as soon as possible.”
Richard Davis
If shippers have come out in support of the bill, then it must not help the truck driver. Unless it puts truck drivers under the FLSA, it won’t really help the truck driver themselves. If it doesn’t mandate that every hour of a driver’s time be paid, including the hours sitting at the shipper’s and receiver’s docks, it does help the driver.
Stephen Webster
Provide us with safe parking and medical care .We should require all lease ops to have medical insurance and disablity insurace not this critical illness garbage. Bring a tiered wage based on yrs of experiance
Provide a plan for insurance for farmers and small rural contruction companies to have insurance for new drivers and those of 21 or younger. We need hourly overtime pay a flex hrs of service and overtime 1 hr of P Cper day if neeed to get safe parking
Don / OakForest
Trucking is not rocket science, they need to stop complicating it. Too many rules set by people that are home for dinner every night at 5pm. When common sense hours of service existed and drivers had the flexibility to sleep when you must work when you can massive fatigue and boredom could be avoided. An office worker isn’t forced to sit at his desk for 8-10 hours with out getting up why should a truck driver. Slow governed speeds safety nannies beeping and buzzing all contribute to mental fatigue. We have proven in our industry you can’t legislate safety. Safety comes experience confidence and constant professional vigilance . To reference another comment just anyone can not be a successful safe truck driver
James Mehlenbeck
Hello: I am with the government and I am here to help you!
NO thanks. Big government is NOT the answer, deregulation is. Let free enterprise be free again. Over regulating politicians will always say that they have answers, then we have to TRY harder for safety, due to the constraints put on us through ELD mandate. Drivers feel compelled to take undue risks because they are up against the clock.
Carlos_🇺🇸
⭐ Screw the tax credit give us our Logbooks back and kill the 🔥DEADLY ELD MANDATE🛑 that’s destroyed our safety and Efficiency ⭐
Cory D Mullis
they done screwed trucking up, well its not even truck’n anylonger ! eld killed truck’n . its a miserable job with clock ticking that does’nt stop. in return makes driving a truck more dangerous for everyone on the roadways ! u cant even have a relative or friend help u get cdl’s any longer ! schooling and on the job training. with a lot of drivers u see today im not sure if more training is the issue , lets face it its different strokes fur different folks ! maybe driving a truck just is’nt fur them . i can tell you i can drive a truck through hell on 4th of july and i quit driving when eld took place ! i told myself if eld law takes place that i was done truck,n and i stuck with it. too bad more drivers could’nt
LiberalKS
Cattle haulers are the worst drivers on the road. Fast heavy egotistical jerks. Hardly making it. So they overcompensate. Honestly seems like white supremacy gangs and a few Paisa’s moving meth n speed inside animals? Who’s going to check? Heck give them less regulations.
Frankly
If only they could understand truck parking isn’t a problem. ELD Put everyone on the same schedule. Like a traffic jam for 10 hours straight.
The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended.