Legislation looks to build on momentum to crack down on scammers in trucking sector
WASHINGTON — The growing threat of freight fraud in trucking has led to another effort by Congress to crack down on scammers that steal millions from legitimate brokers and motor carriers.
Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s nonvoting delegate in the House, would give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration more power over fake companies attempting to register with the agency.
Specifically, the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act “would clarify that FMCSA has the authority to assess civil penalties against fraudulent actors that hold consumers’ personal goods hostage, allow FMCSA to leverage states’ enforcement of federal consumer protection laws related to the transportation of household goods and establish requirements to ensure that motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders that seek registration are operating legitimate businesses,” Holmes Norton said in a statement.
“This bill would also provide explicit authority for FMCSA to withhold registration from any applicant that fails to provide a valid principal place of business or disclose common ownership with any other registered entities at the time of registration.”
While a major target of the legislation is fraud that occurs in the household goods sector, the stricter registration requirements and enforcement provisions would apply to all freight carriers and brokers that register with FMCSA.
The legislation is endorsed by the Transportation Intermediaries Association, the American Trucking Associations, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the Institute for Safer Trucking and Road Safe America.
“Freight fraud committed by criminals and scam artists has been devastating to many small business truckers simply trying to make a living in a tough freight market,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer in a press release.
“Because of the broad industry support for these common sense reforms, we hope this bipartisan legislation will move through the committee process without delay.”
Similar legislation introduced in the last Congress with 24 co-sponsors (14 Republicans, 10 Democrats) was approved out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by a vote of 62-2. This year U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., are introducing a Senate companion bill.
“Re-introducing this bill shows their commitment to implementing strong anti-fraud laws, which could markedly reduce fraud in the supply chain, minimize financial losses to small business and restore integrity to the nation’s freight sector,” said TIA President Chris Burroughs in a news release. “This bill is good for the industry, consumers and the American economy.”
