HR3055-119

What This Bill Does

The TRANSPORT Jobs Act orders the Department of Transportation to produce a Veteran to Supply Chain Employee Action Plan within 30 days after enactment. DOT must consult the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Labor, so the plan links military transition counseling, veterans employment services, transportation workforce programs, and employer recruiting needs. The plan must identify barriers that servicemembers eligible for preseparation counseling and veterans face when searching for, being hired into, trained for, and staying in supply-chain jobs. It must also identify the recruiting, hiring, and retention problems faced by supply-chain employers, regulatory burdens that make hiring veterans harder, regions of the United States with the greatest supply-chain workforce needs, and trends that discourage veterans from pursuing or remaining in these careers. The bill defines supply-chain employees as workers directly employed in facilitating the movement of goods, which puts trucking, freight rail, port, warehouse, logistics, and related goods-movement roles at the center of the review.

Who Benefits and How

Transitioning servicemembers, veterans seeking supply-chain employment, military transition counselors, VA employment staff, Department of Labor veterans-employment programs, trucking employers, freight rail employers, port operators, warehouse and logistics employers, ocean shipping employers, and regions with acute freight-workforce shortages benefit because the action plan must map credential gaps, hiring barriers, training needs, regional labor demand, and specific agency actions that could connect veteran skills to supply-chain jobs. Employers also gain a federal forum to document recruiting and retention problems and regulatory burdens that affect veteran hiring.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Transportation bears the lead burden because it must publish the plan on a 30-day deadline, consult multiple agencies, gather employer and labor feedback, and turn the findings into short- and long-term recommendations. The Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Labor, modal supply-chain employers, transportation trade groups, and organizations representing supply-chain employees must provide information on transition counseling, skills gaps, training programs, workforce shortages, hiring barriers, and mentorship or advancement opportunities.

Key Provisions

• Requires DOT to publish a Veteran to Supply Chain Employee Action Plan within 30 days.
• Directs consultation with the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Labor.
• Requires identification of veteran and servicemember barriers to job search, hiring, training, retention, and career persistence in supply-chain work.
• Requires identification of employer recruiting, hiring, retention, and regulatory-burden problems.
• Requires the plan to highlight veteran skills, competency gaps, existing initiatives, employer outreach, mentorship, education, and advancement programs.
• Requires recommended short- and long-term actions for DOT, Defense, VA, and Labor.