CVSA Legislative and Regulatory Update

CVSA Legislative and Regulatory Update

 

The following documents are attached:

  1. a letter sent to the House Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection and Cybersecurity on HR 5604, The SAFE Trucker Act of 2006;
  2. comments filed with the Department of Homeland Security on Transportation Worker Identification Credential Implementation and Hazardous Material Endorsement for a Commercial Driver’s License.

The SAFE Trucker Act of 2006 currently being considered by Congress is long overdue and a significant legislative step toward establishing a comprehensive risk-based threat assessment process in the Department of Homeland Security for determining a set of security sensitive materials. The proposed legislation would also limit the hazardous materials commercial driver background checks to those drivers transporting these security sensitive materials and creates a new subset of hazardous materials. Most importantly, it provides the basis for tying the above steps to a single security credential, the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC).

Whether the SAFE Trucker Act of 2006 will make its way to final passage in this session of Congress is uncertain because the mid-term elections abbreviates the Legislative Calendar.

The DHS’s (Transportation Security Administration) proposed rulemaking on implementation of a Transportation Worker Identification Credential has provided CVSA with an opportunity to expand upon the security sensitive materials, threat assessments, credentials and enforcement issues commented on in our letter to the House Subcommittee.

Neither the SAFE Trucker Act nor the TSA rulemaking will be the final word on these issues. In fact, the effort to define the issues and the process to resolve them is just beginning. Through both the letter to the House Subcommittee and comments filed with TSA, CVSA is participating in this process.