Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act targets abusive interstate moving practices. It updates civil-penalty assessment authority, allows state commercial-enforcement and consumer-protection use of grant funds, permits states to retain certain penalties and fines imposed on carriers or brokers, and adds principal-place-of-business requirements for registration.
Who Benefits and How
Household-goods shippers benefit from stronger enforcement against movers and brokers that violate commercial regulations. State commercial enforcement agencies benefit from clearer authority to use federal funds for consumer-protection work. State transportation departments benefit from retaining penalties and fines for enforcement purposes. Legitimate moving companies benefit when bad actors face stronger registration and penalty rules.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Moving companies must comply with principal-place-of-business registration and commercial rules. Moving brokers face civil penalties and enforcement if they violate household-goods regulations. FMCSA must administer revised penalty and registration rules. State enforcement staff must apply grant funds and retained penalties to commercial enforcement duties.
Key Provisions
- Amends administrative civil-penalty assessment for commercial regulation violations.
- Expands state use of grant funds for commercial enforcement and consumer protection.
- Allows states to retain certain penalties and fines imposed on carriers and brokers.
- Adds a principal-place-of-business registration requirement.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Strengthens household-goods moving consumer protection by expanding civil-penalty assessment, letting states use and retain enforcement funds, and tightening registration around a carrier's principal place of business.
Key Policy Areas
Transportation, Consumer Protection
Primary Purpose
Strengthens household-goods moving consumer protection by expanding civil-penalty assessment, letting states use and retain enforcement funds, and tightening registration around a carrier's principal place of business.
Policy Domains
Bill provisions
Identified Gains
- Household-goods shipping consumers
- State commercial enforcement agencies
- State transportation departments
- Moving company compliance managers
Identified Costs
- Moving company compliance managers
- Moving broker compliance staff
- FMCSA staff
- State enforcement staff
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedPlaced on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. …
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz …
Reported by Mr. Cruz, without amendment
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, …
Introduced in Senate
Mrs. Fischer (for herself and Ms. Duckworth) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
State commercial enforcement agencies, State transportation departments
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Transportation
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