Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Sept. 27, 2024:
Congress took action on two trucking-related bills Wednesday, moving one to the president’s desk for a signature, and moving another through the committee stage.
The U.S. House on Wednesday passed the Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act, which will ensure veterans can utilize their GI benefits at new branches of commercial driver’s license (CDL) schools whose primary institutions have already received regulatory approval
Currently, if an approved trucking school opens a secondary facility in a new location, existing laws require the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and state regulators to deny the branch’s ability to receive GI benefits for two years.
The bill, which was previously passed in the Senate and will now move to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law, would remove that requirement as long as it uses the same curriculum as the primary institutions that have already been approved by the VA and state agencies.
[Related: Legislation would cut red tape at CDL schools for military vets]
A separate bill that would eliminate redundant fees and background checks for workers seeking multiple TSA-managed credentialing programs was also passed this week by the House Homeland Security Committee.
