On May 23rd, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure voted to approve several pieces of legislation with the goal of strengthening the US supply chain and protecting Americans from future disruptions/shocks to the supply chain.  Many of the bills considered had bipartisan support at the committee level.  The next step in the process will be consideration by the full House of Representatives. Some of the bills most relevant to the cold chain industry include:

H.R. 1836, the Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), builds upon the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022, including by allowing the Federal Maritime Commission to review complaints about market manipulation and anti-competitive operations of maritime exchanges.

H.R. 2367, the Truck Parking Improvement Act, introduced by Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL), addresses the significant lack of truck parking by increasing resources for the construction of new Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) parking, additional parking at current CMV parking areas, and improvements to existing CMV parking.  It also requires CMV parking spaces constructed to be accessible to all CMVs without charge.

H.R. 3365, the Supply Chain Improvement Act, introduced by Rep. John Duarte (R-CA), ensures that priority consideration is given to projects that would improve or build resiliency into the supply chain under the INFRA and MEGA discretionary grant programs.

H.R. 3372, establishing a safety data collection program for certain 6-axle vehicles, introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), establishes a voluntary 10-year pilot program for states to increase truck weights on federal interstates up to 91,000 lbs. on six axles.

A full list of the bills passed by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee can be found  here.

Published Date

May 30, 2023

Topic

Government & Regulatory Affairs, Supply Chain Operations, Transportation & Logistics

Region

United States

Sector

Controlled Environment Building, GCCA Transportation, GCCA Warehouse, Global Cold Chain Foundation