I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 880
A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to clarify the authority of
the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
relating to the shipping of household goods, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2025
Ms. N
ORTON(for herself, Mr. EZELL, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CARTERof Lou-
isiana, Mr. H
ILLof Arkansas, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. CUELLAR, Ms.
S
CHOLTEN, and Mr. BURCHETT) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to clarify
the authority of the Administrator of the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration relating to the shipping
of household goods, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Household Goods Ship-4
ping Consumer Protection Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSESSMENT OF CIVIL PEN-1
ALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF COMMERCIAL 2
REGULATIONS. 3
(a) E
NFORCEMENT BY SECRETARY.—Section 14914 4
of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 5
(1) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and 6
(d) as subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively; 7
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-8
lowing: 9
‘‘(b) E
NFORCEMENT BY SECRETARY.—If, after no-10
tice and an opportunity for a hearing, the Secretary finds 11
that a person violated a provision of part B of subtitle 12
IV of this title, or a regulation or order issued pursuant 13
to such part, the Secretary shall assess a civil penalty by 14
written notice.’’; 15
(3) in subsection (c), as redesignated by para-16
graph (1), by inserting ‘‘or the Secretary’’ after 17
‘‘Board’’; and 18
(4) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para-19
graph (1), by inserting ‘‘or the Secretary’’ after 20
‘‘Board’’. 21
(b) A
PPLICATION.—Section 501(b) of title 49, United 22
States Code, is amended— 23
(1) by inserting ‘‘5,’’ after ‘‘20303 and chap-24
ters’’; and 25
(2) by inserting ‘‘311, 313,’’ after ‘‘chapters),’’. 26
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SEC. 3. STATE USE OF GRANT FUNDS FOR COMMERCIAL 1
ENFORCEMENT AND CONSUMER PROTEC-2
TION. 3
Section 31102 of title 49, United States Code, is 4
amended— 5
(1) in subsection (h)— 6
(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘and’’ 7
at the end; 8
(B) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking the 9
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10
(C) by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(3) for the enforcement of Federal household 12
goods statutes and regulations for the interstate 13
transportation of household goods by household 14
goods motor carriers and brokers, and for the intra-15
state transportation of household goods by household 16
goods motor carriers if the State has adopted laws 17
or regulations that are compatible with Federal 18
household goods regulations.’’; 19
(2) in subsection (l)(2)— 20
(A) in subparagraph (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ 21
at the end; 22
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (J) as 23
subparagraph (K); and 24
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the 25
following: 26
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‘‘(J) enforce Federal household goods stat-1
utes and regulations for the interstate transpor-2
tation of household goods by household goods 3
motor carriers and brokers, and for the intra-4
state transportation of household goods by 5
household goods motor carriers if the State has 6
adopted laws or regulations that are compatible 7
with Federal household goods regulations; and’’; 8
and 9
(3) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(m) S
TATEDISCRETION.—The activities described 11
in subsections (h)(3) and (l)(2)(J) are— 12
‘‘(1) optional at the discretion of a State; and 13
‘‘(2) not a condition on funds received under 14
this section.’’. 15
SEC. 4. STATE RETENTION OF PENALTIES AND FINES. 16
Section 14711 of title 49, United States Code, is 17
amended by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(g) P
ENALTIES.—Notwithstanding any other provi-19
sion of law, any fine or penalty imposed on a carrier or 20
broker in a proceeding under this section shall be paid 21
to, and retained by, the State that imposed such fine or 22
penalty.’’. 23
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SEC. 5. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS. 1
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—Section 13102 of title 49, United 2
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(28) P
RINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS .—The 5
term ‘principal place of business’ means a single 6
physical business location of a specified entity 7
where— 8
‘‘(A) management officials of such speci-9
fied entity report to work; 10
‘‘(B) such specified entity conducts a sig-11
nificant portion of its business relating to the 12
transportation of persons or property; and 13
‘‘(C) such specified entity maintains 14
records required by part B of subtitle IV or 15
part B of subtitle VI. 16
‘‘(29) S
PECIFIED ENTITY.—The term ‘specified 17
entity’ means— 18
‘‘(A) an employer, as such term is defined 19
in section 31132; 20
‘‘(B) a person; 21
‘‘(C) a motor carrier, including a foreign 22
motor carrier or foreign motor private carrier; 23
‘‘(D) a broker; or 24
‘‘(E) a freight forwarder.’’. 25
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(b) MOTOR CARRIER GENERALLY.—Section 1
13902(a)(1) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 2
(1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 3
the end; 4
(2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 5
at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 6
(3) by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘(E) has designated a principal place of 8
business.’’. 9
(c) R
EGISTRATION OF FREIGHTFORWARDERS.— 10
Section 13903(a) of title 49, United States Code, is 11
amended— 12
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 13
end; 14
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 15
the end and inserting a semicolon; and 16
(3) by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(3) has designated a principal place of busi-18
ness; and 19
‘‘(4) has disclosed any relationship involving 20
common ownership, common management, common 21
control, or common familial relationship between 22
such person and any other motor carrier, freight for-23
warder, broker, or any other applicant for motor 24
carrier, freight forwarder, or broker registration, if 25
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the relationship occurred in the 3-year period pre-1
ceding the date of the filing of the application for 2
registration.’’. 3
(d) R
EGISTRATION OFBROKERS.—Section 13904(a) 4
of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 5
(1) in subsection (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after 6
the semicolon; 7
(2) in subsection (2) by striking the period and 8
inserting a semicolon; and 9
(3) by inserting at the end the following: 10
‘‘(3) has designated a principal place of busi-11
ness; and 12
‘‘(4) has disclosed any relationship involving 13
common ownership, common management, common 14
control, or common familial relationship between 15
such person and any other motor carrier, freight for-16
warder, or broker, or any other applicant for motor 17
carrier, freight forwarder, or broker registration, if 18
the relationship occurred in the 3-year period pre-19
ceding the date of the filing of the application for 20
registration.’’. 21
(e) C
OMPLAINTS AND ACTIONS ONSECRETARYINI-22
TIATIVES.—Section 13905(d)(2) of title 49, United States 23
Code, is amended— 24
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(1) in subparagraph (C)(iii), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 1
the end; 2
(2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 3
at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 4
(3) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(E) withhold, suspend, amend, or revoke 6
any part of a registration of a motor carrier, 7
foreign motor carrier, foreign motor private car-8
rier, broker, or freight forwarder if the Sec-9
retary finds that the motor carrier, foreign 10
motor carrier, foreign motor private carrier, 11
broker, or freight forwarder failed to designate 12
a valid principal place of business.’’. 13
(f) R
EQUIREMENT FOR REGISTRATION ANDUSDOT 14
N
UMBER.—Section 31134 of title 49, United States Code, 15
is amended— 16
(1) in subsection (b)— 17
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 18
the end; 19
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe-20
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 21
(C) by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(4) the employer or person seeking registra-23
tion has designated a principal place of business, as 24
defined in section 13102.’’; and 25
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(2) in subsection (c)(2), by striking ‘‘subsection 1
(b)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)’’. 2
Æ
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