A transportation security bill introduced by Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has been signed into law.
President Joe Biden signed the Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act on Dec. 23. The bipartisan bill is touted as a way to streamline the transportation security clearance process.
The bill was supported by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the American Trucking Associations, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and dozens of state trucking organizations.
Current Transportation Security Administration policies often require separate applications for required credentials like the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) and Hazardous Materials Endorsements (HME), even though TSA conducts a Security Threat Assessment (STA) for each program.
The Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act plans to eliminate redundant background checks and fees for truck drivers and other transportation workers. The U.S. Government Accountability Office recommended eliminating redundant background checks in 2007.
Although the bill will eliminate redundancy, no modifications are being made to the security threat assessment conducted on the applicants.
Doug Morris, OOIDA’s director of safety and security operations, called the legislation “common sense.”
ATA also celebrated the bill in a recent news release.
“For far too long, the truck drivers who keep our country running have been subjected to an outdated, inefficient credentialing system that does not respect their time and money,” ATA President Chris Spear said. “That begins to change today. By taking the final step needed to eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, Congress will provide essential supply chain workers with overdue relief from redundant background checks and fees.”
In September, a coalition wrote to the Committee on Homeland Security and called the bill “a long overdue solution.”
“Federal credentialing procedures should be streamlined, accessible and affordable so that workers can obtain the documentation they need to do their jobs without navigating needless bureaucracy,” the coalition wrote in the Sept. 23 letter. LL
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