Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act picks up more support

Both the House and Senate versions of the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act have picked up more co-sponsors, but there is plenty of room for more.

On Tuesday, May 9, two more House representatives signed on as co-sponsors for the Truck Parking Safety Improvement or HR2367: Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis. As of Wednesday, May 10, the House version of the bill had 22 co-sponsors. The other 20 co-sponsors:

• Brian Babin, R-Texas
• Angie Craig, D-Minn.
• Eric Crawford R-Ark.
• John Garamendi, D-Calif.
• Lance Gooden, R-Texas
• Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.
• Darin LaHood, R-Ill.
• Nancy Mace, R-S.C.
• Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y.
• Tracey Mann, R-Kan.
• Daniel Meuser, R-Pa.
• Marcus Molinaro, R-N.Y.
• Troy Nehls, R-Texas
• Dean Phillips, D-Minn.
• Katie Porter, D-Calif.
• Greg Stanton, D-Ariz.
• Pete Stauber, R-Minn.
• Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.
• Dina Titus, D-Nev.
• Rudy Yakym, R-Ind.

The Senate version (S1034) of the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act also picked up more support on Tuesday. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., joins four other senators as co-sponsors of the truck parking bill. The other Senate co-sponsors are John Boozman, R-Ark.; Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; and Jon Tester, D-Mont.

If passed into law, the bill would allocate money for the creation of more truck parking spots. Specifically, the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act will allocate $755 million over three years to the construction of parking spots. According to the bill text, any project funded by the bill cannot include paid parking. All parking under the bill must be publicly accessible and free of charge.

Encourage lawmakers to support the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act

If you don’t see your federal lawmakers on the above list, there is an easy way to contact them and encourage them to support the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act.

In an effort to get more truck parking spaces into the infrastructure, OOIDA has launched a truck parking information webpage: FightingForTruckers.com/truck-parking-2/. The webpage has information truckers and other stakeholders can use to educate lawmakers and other government officials.

The webpage includes fast facts, including the sobering statistic that there is only one truck parking spot for every 11 trucks.

OOIDA also included a section titled “Why Should You Care.” Part of the answer to that question: Federal law only allows a truck driver to be on the road for a limited amount of time, so a significant portion of a driver’s time on the road is completely wasted due to the lack of parking.

The truck parking webpage also links to another page that allows stakeholders to quickly and easily contact their federal lawmakers and tell them to co-sponsor the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act. To access that webpage, click here. LL