The highway bill agreed to by Congressional negotiators Tuesday contains a slew of changes to transportation policy
along with $305 billion in funding for highway and mass-transit projects.
The bill caps a fierce lobbying battle over recent weeks by an array of groups, including port operators, local transit administrators, organized labor, trucking companies, road builders and others that see the bill as their best chance to shift the regulatory and spending landscape for years to come.
Among the highlights:
Shipping and logistics groups were pleased by new grant programs that will wrap together existing spending to focus on freight projects.
“I feel giddy,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.) said of the grant programs. “We got more than we thought we were going to get.”
A pilot program to test allowing drivers under the age of 21 to take trucks across state lines. The trucking industry says it is facing a shortage of drivers, and some companies hope to hire people as young as 18 to run interstate routes. Current laws make it difficult for anyone under 21 to get behind the wheel of a big rig.
Major freight railroads carrying crude oil would be required to provide more detailed and rapid information on shipments, building on safety efforts undertaken after a series of disasters involving rail tank cars
Railroads also will be required to add certain safety protections called thermal blankets to tank cars and will face further restrictions on the use of older cars in transporting oil.
The Department of Transportation will start collecting information on freight handling at ports, a provision that was the result of a pitched battle between organized labor and retail groups that were hurt by the protracted labor dispute at West Coast ports earlier this year. Business groups have pressed for tougher oversight of port labor contract negotiations, including allowing state governors to intercede.
Some amendments included in the House or Senate versions of the bill failed to make the cut:
A provision in the House bill would have prevented states from going beyond federal standards for driver pay, likely halting dozens of lawsuits against operators of large trucking fleets.
The compromise also drops a provision passed by the Senate to allow companies to use a new method of drug and alcohol testing involving hair follicles. Labor groups oppose the testing, saying it is overly sensitive. The new bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to study the method and says the testing can’t be sanctioned for transportation workers until it is approved by HHS scientists.
And lawmakers did not include provisions sought by trucking companies to allow for longer and heavier trucks on federal highways.
