SAFER Transport Act

Key Points

• The bill creates an automated fraud detection system for the trucking registration database. Within one year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must build software to flag suspicious activity like rapid changes to company info, unusual registration patterns, or duplicate business identifiers.
• Over five years, the bill phases out the old 'MC number' identification system and moves all trucking companies, brokers, and freight forwarders to a single USDOT number, making it harder for fraudsters to hide behind multiple registrations.
• The Department of Transportation gains power to deny or revoke registration from companies or drivers convicted of serious crimes including smuggling, cargo theft, human trafficking, or fraud connected to commercial transportation.
• States would be required to verify that non-citizen commercial drivers are authorized to work in the U.S. before issuing a commercial driver's license, and those licenses must expire when the driver's work authorization expires.
• Foreign dispatch services — companies based outside the U.S., Mexico, or Canada that coordinate freight movements for motor carriers — would be required to register as brokers, subjecting them to the same rules as domestic businesses.
• The bill creates criminal penalties of up to 5 years in prison and fines for anyone who knowingly submits fraudulent certifications to gain trucking authority and then uses that authority to illegally transport property or passengers.