To amend title 49, United States Code, to grant the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico eligibility to issue commercial driver's licenses, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
Extends commercial driver's license eligibility to the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, directs federal compliance assistance to those territories, and gives them a five-year protection from certain federal fund withholdings while they work toward full compliance.
Who Benefits and How
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and commercial drivers in those territories could gain access to locally issued commercial driver's licenses and more time to meet full federal compliance requirements.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would need to support territorial compliance work, and safety regulators would have to manage a temporary period in which normal withholding penalties do not apply.
Key Provisions
- Adds Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands to the relevant commercial motor vehicle safety definition in title 49.
- Treats certain Virgin Islands apportionments as subject to statutory penalty rules.
- Requires FMCSA to work with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on achieving full compliance with chapter 313 of title 49.
- Waives certain fund-withholding penalties for both territories for five years after enactment.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Extends commercial driver's license eligibility to the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, directs federal compliance assistance to those territories, and gives them a five-year protection from certain federal fund withholdings while they work toward full compliance.
Key Policy Areas
Transportation, Territories, Workforce
Primary Purpose
Extends commercial driver's license eligibility to the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, directs federal compliance assistance to those territories, and gives them a five-year protection from certain federal fund withholdings while they work toward full compliance.
Policy Domains
Main Provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and commercial driver applicants in those territories
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal transportation regulators managing the territorial transition to full compliance
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
Ms. Plaskett (for herself, Mr. Hernández, and Mr. Edwards) introduced …
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands as jurisdictions entering the commercial driver's license program
Commercial driver applicants and employers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
FMCSA officials providing compliance assistance and overseeing the temporary transition period
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "administrator"
- → Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology