119-hr5423

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5423 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 5423

To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit the use of predatory 
 commercial motor vehicle lease-purchase programs by certain motor 
 carriers, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 September 17, 2025

 Ms. Brownley introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit the use of predatory 
 commercial motor vehicle lease-purchase programs by certain motor 
 carriers, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Predatory Truck Leasing Prevention 
Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON PREDATORY COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE LEASE-
 PURCHASE AGREEMENT PROGRAMS.

 

Section 14102 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
 ``
            (c) Prohibition on Predatory Commercial Motor Vehicle Lease-
Purchase Agreement Program.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
 enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall promulgate 
 regulations to prohibit the use of predatory commercial motor 
 vehicle lease-purchase programs by motor carriers providing 
 transportation subject to jurisdiction under subchapter I of 
 chapter 135.
 ``

    (2) Relief provision.--In promulgating regulations 
 pursuant to paragraph

    (1) , the Secretary shall establish a 
 process by which drivers can be granted relief from the terms 
 of a lease-purchase agreement if--
 ``
        (A) the Secretary finds that the terms of the 
 lease-purchase agreement violated regulations issued 
 pursuant to paragraph

    (1) ; and
 ``
        (B) the lease-purchase agreement was entered into 
 after the effective date of the regulations issued 
 pursuant to paragraph

    (1) .
 ``

    (3) === Definitions. ===
-In this subsection:
 ``
        (A) Predatory commercial motor vehicle lease-
 purchase agreement program.--The term `predatory 
 commercial motor vehicle lease-purchase agreement 
 program' means the framework of motor carrier-driver 
 relationship, including the lease-purchase agreement, 
 the contract for the driver's work for the motor 
 carrier, and the motor carrier's practices in 
 implementing the contracts that are not provided in the 
 contract, including the motor carrier's recruitment 
 practices, operational practices, and tax and finance 
 practices, whereby the motor carrier controls the work, 
 compensation, and debts of the driver, and the driver 
 accrues no equity or is forced to give up equity 
 accrued in the contracted truck.
 ``
        (B) Lease purchase agreement.--The term `lease-
 purchase agreement' means a financial contract by which 
 a driver leases a commercial motor vehicle from a motor 
 carrier (or a firm affiliated with such motor carrier) 
 to haul freight while driving for the same motor 
 carrier under a separate contract.''.
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