Approps bill includes truck parking funding, speed limiter prohibition

Several big-ticket items of interest to truckers have made it into the initial draft of the 2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, or THUD, appropriations bill.

Released by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, June 26, the 2025 THUD bill proposes spending limits and restrictions on the Department of Transportation and sub-agencies such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Of note, truck parking projects are slated in the bill for a $200 million investment.

The $200 million included in the 2025 THUD appropriations is significantly lower than the $755 million investment over three years included in the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, HR2367.

And while the THUD language sets restrictions on charging for parking, there is little in the way of detail on how the money could be spent. For example, it’s unclear if any of the $200 million could be spent on charging infrastructure for electric trucks rather than expanding truck parking availability.

Stopping speed limiter mandates

Another piece of legislation rolled into the appropriations bill is a prohibition on a speed limiter mandate.

Currently, FMCSA has a rulemaking lurking in the background that would propose a speed limiter mandate on trucks. The speed has yet to be officially disclosed, in spite of a proposal released in error this past year that included top speeds of 68 mph.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that prohibits FMCSA from mandating speed limiters. Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., introduced HR3039 in May 2023, and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., launched the Senate version of the DRIVE Act, S2671, in July 2023. Both versions of the bill would prohibit FMCSA from moving ahead with any rule or regulation mandating speed limiters.

While there has been movement in the form of co-sponsors signing on, any passage of the legislation faces challenges getting through Congress in the current climate.

The language included in the 2025 THUD appropriations bill basically mirrors the House and Senate versions of the DRIVE Act. If signed into law, the THUD bill would prohibit FMCSA from mandating speed limiters.

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act or any other Act may be used to promulgate any rule or regulation to require vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of more than 26,000 pounds operating in interstate commerce to be equipped with a speed limiting device set to a maximum speed,” Section 133 states.

Other items of note

Nestled away in the 210-page THUD appropriations bill are also:

• A prohibition on electronic logging devices in agriculture operations
• A prohibition on driver-facing cameras in the under-21 pilot program
• A prohibition on FMCSA acting to alter meal or rest break preemption waivers

A primer on appropriations bills

Every year, legislation is put together that funds federal government operations for the upcoming fiscal year – and it’s been a long time since that process was completed before the new fiscal year started.

The federal government’s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 each year. Funding for the fiscal year is approved in several different pieces of appropriations legislation.

The House of Representatives and the Senate must both approve several pieces of legislation and must agree on final versions in conference committee to send to the president. The president then must sign the legislation for the funding to continue.

The funding legislation is broken down into 12 areas. They are:

• Agriculture
• Commerce/justice/science
• Defense
• Energy and water
• Financial services
• Homeland security
• Interior and environment
• Labor/health and human services/education
• Legislative branch
• Military/veterans
• State/foreign operations
• Transportation/housing and urban development

Because it seems rather commonplace to miss the Oct. 1 fiscal year deadline, at least in part, many may assume that it really doesn’t mean much if the bills aren’t done.

Many times, the government puts a quick fix in place while the appropriations bills are being hashed out. That’s what happened this past year. The government ran on continuing resolutions designed to keep money flowing to the agencies while the funding legislation was hammered out and signed by the president.

The next stop for the 2025 THUD bill is a markup hearing on Thursday, June 27. The hearing can be viewed here. LL