Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act picks up more support

April 6, 2021

Tyson Fisher

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The Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act is picking up momentum with four more cosponsors.

On April 1, Reps. Thomas Tiffany, R-Wis., and Jefferson Van Drew, R-N.J., signed on as co-sponsors to the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, formally known as HR2187. Four days later, Reps. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., and Greg Pence, R- Ind., also became co-sponsors.

In total, the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act has nine co-sponsors since it was introduced by Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., on March 26. Five House reps were co-sponsors the day it was introduced, including:

  • Angie Craig, D-Minn.
  • John Garamendi, D-Calif.
  • Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.
  • Pete Stauber, R-Minn.
  • Susan Wild, D-Pa.

Of the nine co-sponsors, five did not co-sponsor the previous version of the bill, HR6104, including Johnson, Stauber, Tiffany, Van Drew and Malinowski. However, Tiffany did not join Congress until May 2020 after a special election.

Representatives who were co-sponsors for HR6104 but have not yet signed on to the new session’s version of the Truck Parking Safety Improvement are:

  • Brian Babin, R-Texas.
  • James Baird, R-Ind.
  • Jim Banks, R-Ind.
  • Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn.
  • Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.
  • Ron Kind, D-Wis.
  • Darin LaHood, R-Ill.
  • Tim Ryan, D-Ohio.
  • Chris Stewart, R-Utah.
  • Susan Wild, D-Pa.

Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., during the last Congress, was a co-sponsor to HR6104. However, he left office to become governor of Montana.

It is worth noting that the ink on the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act is still drying, giving House reps plenty of time to jump on board.

With HR6104, it took more than five months to reach nine cosponsors. It took HR2187 less than two weeks to hit that mark.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association encourages any trucker who does not see their representative on the list to contact them. OOIDA’s website, FightingForTruckers.com, allows users to look up their lawmakers and their contact information.

On March 26, Bost introduced the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act to the House. For the most part, the bill is an updated copy of HR6104, which was introduced last year by Bost during the last Congress.

In his bill, Bost is requesting $755 million be allocated over five years specifically to add truck parking capacity. Funding would come from existing funds within the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and the Highway Trust Fund.

As was the case with HR6104, the latest Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act will not award grants to any project that charges for parking. All projects must provide free parking.

Funding from the bill would be distributed in the form of grants for projects providing truck parking on federal-aid highways or at a facility with reasonable access to a federal-aid highway or freight facility. Grants will be awarded to state and local governments. New to HR2187 are provisions that allow the private sector to get involved through public-private partnerships. LL