[Senate Report 119-96]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 268
119th Congress} { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 119-96
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INTERSTATE TRANSPORT ACT OF 2025
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
on
S. 246
November 18, 2025.--Ordered to be printed
SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
one hundred nineteenth congress
first session
TED CRUZ, Texas, Chairman
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
JERRY MORAN, Kansas EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
TODD YOUNG, Indiana TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
TED BUDD, North Carolina JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
ERIC SCHMITT, Missouri BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico
JOHN CURTIS, Utah JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER, Colorado
BERNIE MORENO, Ohio JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania
TIM SHEEHY, Montana ANDY KIM, New Jersey
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware
CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
Brad Grantz, Majority Staff Director
Lila Harper Helms, Democratic Staff Director
Calendar No. 268
119th Congress} { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 119-96
======================================================================
INTERSTATE TRANSPORT ACT OF 2025
_______
November 18, 2025.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Cruz, from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 246]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to
which was referred the bill (S. 246) to protect the right of
law-abiding citizens to transport knives interstate,
notwithstanding a patchwork of local and State prohibitions,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of S. 246 is to protect the right of law-
abiding citizens to transport knives interstate,
notwithstanding a patchwork of local and State prohibitions.
BACKGROUND AND NEEDS
Currently, Federal, State, and local laws that govern the
sale, possession, manufacture, or carrying of knives vary
widely and can be inconsistent State to State, including those
that criminalize the possession of certain knives. This can
deter a law-abiding knife owner from traveling interstate with
a knife that is legal in both their home State and destination
State.
This bill would provide protections to lawful knife owners
traveling interstate. The legislation is based on the Firearms
Owners Protection Act (FOPA), which Congress enacted in 1986,
to address a similar patchwork of State laws.\1\ This bill
would prohibit the transport of a knife in the cabin of a
passenger aircraft.
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\1\18 U.S.C. 926A.
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SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS
S. 246 would do the following:
Allow an individual to transport a properly secured
knife from one State in which the knife is legal,
through any State, to another State in which the knife
is legal.
Provide an exception for emergency knives to be
accessible to drivers and passengers.
Allow knife owners to assert this provision as a
claim or a defense and, if they prevail, to have any
records of their arrest expunged.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 246 was introduced on January 24, 2025, by Senator Budd
(for himself and Senators Wyden, Crapo, Heinrich, Daines,
Peters, and Risch) and was referred to the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. Senators
Lummis and Barrasso are additional cosponsors. On February 5,
2025, the Committee met in open Executive Session and, by voice
vote, ordered S. 246 reported favorably without amendment.
ESTIMATED COSTS
In accordance with paragraph 11(a) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate and section 403 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee provides the
following cost estimate, prepared by the Congressional Budget
Office:
S. 246 would allow people to transport a knife between
state and local jurisdictions where it is legal to possess and
carry such a knife under certain conditions. That authority
would not apply to people who are otherwise prohibited from
possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving knives under
federal law. CBO estimates that enacting the bill would have no
effect on federal spending because it would not change any
federal laws related to possessing or transporting knives.
S. 246 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as defined
in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by preempting
certain state and local laws related to the possession and
transportation of knives. The bill would allow people to
transport knives through states that prohibit them so long as
the knife is secured or if it is a safety blade designed for
cutting seatbelts. CBO estimates the costs for state and local
governments to comply with the mandate would not exceed the
intergovernmental threshold established in UMRA ($103 million
in 2025, adjusted annually for inflation).
S. 246 contains no private-sector mandates as defined in
UMRA.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Jeremy Crimm
(for federal costs) and Erich Dvorak (for mandates). The
estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director
of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.
REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT
Because S. 246 does not create any new programs, the
legislation will have no additional regulatory impact, nor will
it result in any additional reporting requirements. The
legislation will have no further effect on the number or types
of individuals and businesses regulated, the economic impact of
such regulation, the personal privacy of affected individuals,
or the paperwork required from such individuals and businesses.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
In compliance with paragraph 4(b) of rule XLIV of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides that no
provisions contained in the bill, as reported, meet the
definition of congressionally directed spending items under the
rule.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Short title
This section would provide that the bill may be cited as
the ``Interstate Transport Act of 2025''.
Section 2. Interstate transportation of knives
This section would define the terms ``State'' and
``transport''. This section would entitle knife owners to
travel by motor vehicle through a State that restricts knives,
as long as the knife owners are traveling from a State in which
the knives are legal to another State in which the knives are
legal. Furthermore, this section would require the knives to be
properly secured, either by being inaccessible from the
passenger compartment or, in the case with no passenger
compartment, by being locked in a container that is not a glove
compartment or console.
This section would not apply to emergency knives, which are
defined as tools with blunt tipped or guarded blades for
cutting safety belts to enable escape. Knife owners traveling
by passenger aircraft subject to the jurisdiction of the
Transportation Security Administration would not be covered by
the provisions of this section. This section would also
explicitly prohibit the arrest of a knife owner who is in
compliance with this section--absent probable cause that an
owner is not in compliance. Lastly, this section would allow
knife owners to assert the provision as a claim or defense and,
if they prevail, to have all official records of their arrest
expunged.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee states that the
bill as reported would make no change to existing law.
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