Nehls advocates for truckers on restroom access, overtime
Sometimes, lawmakers just need to be informed about a problem.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association let Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, know that truck drivers were frequently being denied access to restrooms at shipper and receiver facilities.
Nehls, who is on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, couldn’t believe his ears.
“I said, ‘We actually need Congress to do something about this?’ You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nehls said. “Are there really businesses out there that are just saying, ‘No. You’re not going to use the restroom?’”
Soon after, Nehls introduced the Trucker Bathroom Access Act. The bill would require shipper and receiver facilities with existing restrooms to make them available for truck drivers who are delivering or receiving a load. The legislation would not require businesses to construct new restrooms.
The Trucker Bathroom Access Act received some support in the previous congressional session but did not make it to the House floor for a vote. As of press time in early January, Nehls planned on reintroducing the bill in the 119th Congress.
“Those who are obstructionists or are fighting this, I really don’t understand the argument,” Nehls said. “We’re not asking these businesses to build new restroom facilities. If you have a bathroom available, my God, have the damn courtesy – the common courtesy – to allow the people who are picking up your goods and dropping them off to use the restroom. That’s it – simple.”
Although the effort has failed to reach the finish line thus far, the story remains a strong example of how advocacy can work in the political system. If you get word about a problem in front of the right person, it doesn’t take long for the wheels to be set in motion.
Advocacy efforts from OOIDA and individual truckers have led to Nehls being a supporter of several pro-trucker issues, including overtime pay, truck parking and opposition to mandates for automatic emergency braking systems and speed limiters.
Overtime pay
On Dec. 4, Nehls became the third co-sponsor of the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act, which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require that company drivers receive overtime compensation when they work more than the standard 40-hour work week.
It was another “commonsense” effort by OOIDA and individual truckers that the congressman quickly supported.
“In any other industry, if you’re working over 40 hours – whether it’s law enforcement or public service or whatever – you’re eligible to receive overtime,” Nehls said. “Why would that not apply to truckers as well? Somebody explain to me, and I haven’t found one yet – a logical reason or explanation as to why we wouldn’t have overtime for our nation’s truckers. It makes no sense.”
Land Line on display
The best recent example of pro-trucker grassroots advocacy reaching Congress may be when Nehls put an issue of Land Line Magazine on display during a House subcommittee hearing in December 2023.
With FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson and NHTSA acting Administrator Ann Carlson testifying at the hearing, Nehls was concerned about a rulemaking to mandate automatic emergency brakes on commercial motor vehicles despite numerous reports of false activations.
Nehls cited the October 2023 issue of Land Line Magazine, which features a story about truck driver Carrie Moore’s experience with AEB technology while driving on a snowy Michigan highway in 2022. Moore said a false activation from the emergency brakes caused her truck to jackknife and nearly crash into a median.
“(The article) talks about one of the truck drivers,” Nehls told Carlson during the hearing. “It was either a shadow or the guardrail that caused her to lose control, and this thing scared the hell out of her … This can be very, very dangerous … You need to read this when it talks about these brakes and how dangerous it’s going to be.”
When Carlson said she was not familiar with the article, Nehls responded, “You’ve got to read the magazine!” LL