[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5728-S5729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. PRYOR (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Nelson, of Nebraska, 
        and Mr. Wicker):
  S. 1113. A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the 
Secretary of Transportation to establish and maintain a national 
clearinghouse for records related to alcohol and controlled substances 
testing of commercial motor vehicle operators, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation with 
Senators Snowe, Nelson of Nebraska, and Wicker. The legislation that we 
are introducing today is aptly named The Safe Roads Act of 2009, as it 
will go a long way toward improving the safety of our Nation's roads by 
closing loopholes that have allowed commercial truck and bus drivers to 
use and abuse drugs and continue to drive without receiving required 
treatment necessary to return to duty. The bill is designed to save 
lives by preventing unnecessary deaths on our Nation's roads.
  Nearly every day Americans can open their newspapers to learn about a 
death caused by drivers under the influence of drugs and alcohol. 
Sometimes, these drivers are behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler or a 
commercial bus, which due to their size and weight bring a destructive 
force on any road. On May 8th of this year, the Arkansas Democrat 
Gazette reported about a commercial bus driver involved in an accident 
on Interstate 40 near Forrest City, AR, in 2007 that resulted in four 
fatalities. The driver was reportedly under the influence of 
amphetamines, one of the substances tested for under Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA, testing regulations. The driver 
of this commercial vehicle has been sentenced to jail and four lives 
were lost as a result of the accident.
  Some other similar accidents involving truck drivers that have 
occurred in recent years include: in October 2008, Kane County, IL, a 
truck driver rear-ended a passenger vehicle killing a woman. The truck 
driver was indicted for reckless homicide and driving under the 
influence of narcotics.
  In January 2008, in Franklin County, AL, a truck driver was arrested 
for being under the influence of drugs or alcohol after crossing the 
center line and killing a woman in a head-on accident.
  In July 2007, in Little Rock, AR, a truck driver killed a family of 
five in a crash. The driver admitted smoking crack cocaine a few hours 
before the crash.
  In May 2007, Centre County, PA, a truck driver ran over a car killing 
a woman. The driver faces charges including homicide by vehicle while 
driving under the influence of suspected methamphetamines.
  While drug abuse among the at least 3.4 million truck drivers in the 
industry is estimated by FMCSA to only represent 2 to 5 percent of the 
entire truck driving workforce, that still represents roughly 68,000 
truck drivers that have a drug or alcohol abuse problem. That is a high 
and unacceptable risk that needs to be addressed in a serious fashion. 
Our goal is to prevent accidents of this nature, and I would like to 
briefly explain how we intend to do so.
  Our bill will establish within the FMCSA a national drug and alcohol 
database and clearinghouse listing positive alcohol and drug test 
results or test refusals by commercial truck and bus drivers. The bill 
will expand current drug and alcohol testing regulations to require 
Medical Review Officers, MROs, and other FMCSA-approved agents 
conducting already-required testing to report positive test results and 
test refusals to the FMCSA drug and alcohol clearinghouse. Employers 
seeking new employees would then be required to not only follow the 
laws already in place for testing prospective employees, but they would 
also be required to examine the prospective employees' record in the 
FMCSA clearinghouse to determine if the prospective employee has 
recently failed or refused to take a drug and alcohol test. If the 
prospective employee has a positive test result or test refusal in the 
clearinghouse, an employer would not be allowed to hire the prospective 
employee unless it can be proven that he or she has not violated

[[Page S5729]]

the requirements of the testing program, or that he or she has fully 
completed a return-to-duty program as required by the testing program.
  There are major loopholes that exist today in the current drug and 
alcohol testing regime. Drivers have a tendency to ``job-hop'' after 
failing drug and alcohol tests, moving from one company to another 
without reporting past drug and alcohol test failures. Some States have 
since closed this loophole by establishing clearinghouses similar to 
our proposal, but not all States have these laws, and they do not do 
anything to prevent drivers with past drug and alcohol test failures 
from moving State-to-State to seek and gain employment. Our legislation 
would go to considerable lengths in closing both of these well-known 
and well-reported loopholes. Our bill would also provide extensive 
privacy protection for individuals whose data is collected at the 
clearinghouse or accessed from the clearinghouse. The bill would 
provide individuals with the means to challenge records in the 
clearinghouse and rights of actions against those who misuse 
information contained in the clearinghouse or accessed from the 
clearinghouse.
  The Government Accountability Office, GAO, and the FMCSA have 
acknowledged these loopholes. Both have published reports describing a 
national clearinghouse as a feasible, cost-effective measure to address 
this problem and improve highway safety. In addition, a clearinghouse 
is something that Congress has examined since implementing drug and 
alcohol testing requirements in 1995. In 1999, Congress required the 
FMCSA to evaluate the viability of a national clearinghouse database 
for positive test results and test refusals, and in 2004 the results of 
their study supported a need for such a system and revealed the safety 
benefits that would come from it. As recently as last year, the GAO 
released a report to Congress titled `Motor Carrier Safety: 
Improvements to Drug Testing Programs Could Better Identify Illegal 
Drug Users and Keep Them off the Road' that recommended the 
establishment of a national database and clearinghouse of drivers who 
have tested positive or refused to test. There is a clear need to close 
these well-known loopholes, and I believe our bill goes a long way in 
that direction.
  It is my hope that Congress will support this legislation and move 
forward quickly to enact this legislation. I believe it is an 
imperative step to enhance drug and alcohol testing requirements and 
improve pre-employment background reviews to reduce the number of 
accidents and needless deaths resulting from drivers that are under the 
influence of these types of substances.
  I want to thank Senators Snowe, Nelson of Nebraska, and Wicker for 
their hard work, leadership and support on this very important safety 
issue, and I urge the rest of my colleagues to support its swift 
passage.
                                 ______