The American Trucking Associations led more than 150 organizations representing trucking, rail, energy, organized labor, agriculture, third-party logistics providers, and other key supply chain stakeholders to urge Congress to pass the Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act. The bill would eliminate redundant fees and background checks for essential transportation workers.
The bill would eliminate redundant fees and background checks for essential transportation workers.
The Transportation Security Screening Modernization Act would cut through red tape to allow workers to apply existing valid background checks to multiple TSA-managed credentialing programs, such as the Transportation Worker Identification Credentials and Hazardous Materials Endorsements, reports HDT magazine.
“Subjecting essential supply chain workers to the same exact background check multiple times in order to receive different credentials from the same agency does nothing to enhance security,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “This system only serves to pad government coffers by forcing truckers and other transportation workers to pay duplicative fees for a background check they’ve already cleared.
“Congress should not allow the inefficiencies of government bureaucracy to impede the efficiency of our supply chain, especially at the expense of those hardworking men and women who keep our economy running.”
ATA Chairman Andrew Boyle, co-president of Boyle Transportation, pointed out how these issues increase costs for drivers and fleets.
“Here is a perfect example of where Congress can make government work better to support the supply chain and essential, frontline workers who move our economy,” Boye said. “This common-sense, bipartisan bill provides a logical solution to fix some serious flaws in the credentialing process.”
ATA Vice Chairman Wes Davis, president of Big M Transportation, called the current system an onerous process that is “disruptive to supply chain continuity and deters many qualified drivers from obtaining the credentials required to move these critical loads.”
Full story here.