
A bipartisan bill aimed at fighting freight fraud has been introduced in the House and Senate.
The Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act would attempt to crack down on fraud involving residential moving companies, but it also would assist in the overall effort to fight freight fraud.
The bill would restore and codify the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s authority to issue civil penalties against bad actors. The legislation also requires brokers, freight forwarders and carriers to provide a valid business address to FMCSA before acquiring operating authority.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., reintroduced the bill in the House. In the previous session, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced the bill with a 62-2 vote.
This time, there also is a Senate companion bill. Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., introduced the S337 on Thursday, Jan. 30.
“We cannot allow bad actors in the shipping and moving industry to violate consumer trust and harm our nation’s supply chain,” Fischer said. “Our bipartisan, bicameral legislation will give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration the tools they need to hold these thieves accountable. I look forward to working with my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to get our bill signed into law.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is supportive of the freight fraud bill, saying that small-business truckers are routinely victimized.
“Freight fraud committed by criminals and scam artists has been devastating to many small business truckers simply trying to make a living in a tough freight market,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a statement. “OOIDA and the 150,000 small-business truckers we represent applaud Sen. Fischer, Sen. Duckworth, Congresswoman Norton and Congressman Ezell for their bipartisan and bicameral leadership to provide FMCSA better tools to root out fraudulent actors, which are also harmful to consumers and highway safety. Because of the broad industry support for these commonsense reforms, we hope this bipartisan legislation will move through the committee process without delay.”
In addition to OOIDA, the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act is supported by the Transportation Intermediaries Association, the American Trucking Associations’ Moving and Storage Conference, the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the Institute for Safer Trucking and Road Safe America.
“Shipping fraud is among the most frequent complaints FMCSA receives,” Norton said. “This bill would provide FMCSA with explicit authority to assess civil penalties for violations of commercial regulations, and crucially, to withhold registration from applicants failing to provide verification details demonstrating they intend to operate legitimate businesses. Americans moving across state lines need to be able to have confidence in FMCSA-licensed companies transporting their physical belongings.” LL
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