The House Appropriations Committee released on Tuesday the Fiscal Year 2025 funding legislation for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee (THUD). This bill includes provisions to block a possible mandate for speed limiters and allocate extra funding for truck parking.
The bill will be discussed by the THUD Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday, June 27 and the full House Appropriations Committee July 8.
The bill’s current text includes:
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The truck park provision was well received by both the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association as well as the American Trucking Associations. OOIDA President Todd Spencer stated that truck drivers are “put in a no win situation” without a safe parking area. We are forced to either drive while fatigued, or outside of legal driving hours, or park in a non-designated and unsafe place like a side of the highway or abandoned lot.
The ATA President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Spear said that the shortage of truck parking “places a huge burden on truckers, who often do not know if they can find a place to sleep after they finish their shift.” This investment would reduce stress for truck drivers, improve freight movement, and make roads safer for all motorists.
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OOIDA expressed support for the provisions that bar a requirement for speed limiters for trucks. (The inclusion of in the THUD legislation followed the introduction of standalone law last year which contained a similar provision. ).
Spencer stated that “road safety is the top priority for truck drivers in America.” OOIDA applauded a draft language that “prevents FMCSA from pursuing a harmful speed limiter mandate for large trucks.” This would lead to drastic speed differences on America’s roads, increased crash rates and put innocent lives at risk.
The FMCSA’s efforts to implement a speed limiter mandate have seemingly stalled. In February , the agency indicated that a proposed rulemaking would be published in May. A speed limiter proposal is still not even approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, let alone published in the Federal Register for a comment period.
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