On Aug. 10, the U.S. Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bipartisan piece of legislations which invests $1 trillion in infrastructure projects. The bill included the surface transportation reauthorization bill passed by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in June, which includes a five-year authorization that increases funding for commercial motor vehicle safety grants, including the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP), High Priority, and Commercial Driver’s License Program, and increases funding for PHMSA’s Community Safety Grant. Additionally, the bill included several of CVSA’s priorities, including changes to the way training is delivered to roadside inspectors, an extra year to spend MCSAP formula funding, additional authority for FMCSA to redistribute unspent funds and improvements to federal recognition of state issues out-of-service orders. During the consideration of the infrastructure package, CVSA worked with Senators Duckworth and Lummis to have an amendment considered that would have added language to establish a universal electronic vehicle identifier requirement on all new commercial motor vehicles. Unfortunately, the Senate’s process did not allow for consideration of the amendment before the bill passed. However, the amendment garnered significant bipartisan support on the Hill and among those in the motor carrier industry, putting the issue in a better position moving forward.
