PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must give companies that do preemployment screenings for the trucking industry electronic access to three kinds of reports in the Motor Carrier Management Information System: crash reports, inspections that show no driver-related safety problems, and inspections that show serious driver-related safety problems. The access is meant to help carriers check an applicant’s crash and serious-violation record before hiring. Using the system is optional and only for preemployment checks. Before letting a screener use the system, the Secretary must make sure the screener follows the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other federal laws, gets the job applicant’s written permission, does not share the information beyond the carrier or applicant except as law requires, and gives applicants a way to fix wrong information. Serious driver-related safety violation: a rule break the Secretary says must be fixed before the driver can keep operating a commercial vehicle.

Title 49, §31150

Transportation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In General.—

The Secretary of Transportation shall provide persons conducting preemployment screening services for the motor carrier industry electronic access to the following reports contained in the Motor Carrier Management Information System:

(1)Commercial motor vehicle accident reports.

(2)Inspection reports that contain no driver-related safety violations.

(3)Serious driver-related safety violation inspection reports.

(b)Conditions on Providing Access.—

Before providing a person access to the Motor Carrier Management Information System under subsection (a), the Secretary shall—

(1)ensure that any information that is released to such person will be in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) and all other applicable Federal law;

(2)ensure that such person will not conduct a screening without the operator-applicant’s written consent;

(3)ensure that any information that is released to such person will not be released to any person or entity, other than the motor carrier requesting the screening services or the operator-applicant, unless expressly authorized or required by law; and

(4)provide a procedure for the operator-applicant to correct inaccurate information in the System in a timely manner.

(c)Design.—

The process for providing access to the Motor Carrier Management Information System under subsection (a) shall be designed to assist the motor carrier industry in assessing an individual operator’s crash and serious safety violation inspection history as a preemployment condition. Use of the process shall not be mandatory and may only be used during the preemployment assessment of an operator-applicant.

(d)Serious Driver-Related Safety Violation Defined.—

In this section, the term “serious driver-related violation” means a violation by an operator of a commercial motor vehicle that the Secretary determines will result in the operator being prohibited from continuing to operate a commercial motor vehicle until the violation is corrected.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Fair Credit Reporting Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(1), is title VI of Pub. L. 90–321, as added by Pub. L. 91–508, title VI, § 601, Oct. 26, 1970, 84 Stat. 1127, which is classified generally to subchapter III (§ 1681 et seq.) of chapter 41 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1601 of Title 15 and Tables.

§31150 Safety Performance History Screening