Truck drivers who wait hours to be loaded or unloaded may soon have a federal right to use the restroom at the businesses they serve. U.S. Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) introduced the Trucker Bathroom Access Act in the Senate on Friday, November 13, a bipartisan bill that would ensure drivers can use bathroom facilities while they deliver or pick up cargo at establishments across the United States, the senators announced.
Source: Office of Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester
Both sponsors sit on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the committee that oversees trucking policy — the venue where the bill's Senate path will begin. A companion bill in the House of Representatives is led by Congressman Troy Nehls (R-Texas) and Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), who have carried versions of the same proposal in earlier sessions.
What the bill would actually require
The act is deliberately narrow. It ensures that truck drivers have access to a restroom while they do their jobs, and it does not require any business to construct new facilities. What it requires is equal treatment: a driver picking up or delivering freight must be given the same restroom access that the business already offers its own customers or employees.
The House version of the legislation, H.R. 2514 in the 119th Congress, spells out the same principle for retailers, warehouses and other establishments, and adds specific duties at ports and intermodal rail yards, where operators must give drayage truck operators access to existing restrooms, provide additional restrooms if necessary, and allow parking while drivers use them, according to the Congressional Research Service summary on Congress.gov.
Source: Congress.gov — H.R. 2514, 119th Congress
Why drivers and their groups pushed for it
“America's truck drivers are vital to keep our country moving forward,” said Senator Blunt Rochester. “Increasingly, more women are filling these critical jobs, and they should feel confident their basic needs will be met.” Senator Fischer added: “This is another way we can help our truckers who put in long hours to keep products moving.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), whose president Todd Spencer supports the bill, put the problem bluntly: “Over 70% of America's freight is exclusively carried by trucks, yet every single day men and women truck drivers are forced to 'hold it' because they aren't allowed access to the restroom when picking up or delivering freight.” The American Trucking Associations' Henry Hanscom noted that pickups and deliveries “can take hours on end while waiting to be loaded or unloaded,” and called restroom access a matter of dignity and of recruiting and retaining drivers, particularly women. Lana Nichols of the Women In Trucking Association said the lack of reliable restroom access “can affect their safety, health, dignity and overall experience on the job.” Trinity Logistics president Sarah Ruffcorn also backed the bill.
The supporting coalition announced Friday spans the industry: OOIDA, the American Trucking Associations, the Women in Trucking Association, She Trucking and Trinity Logistics.
A fight that has been running since 2022
This is not a new idea in Washington. With OOIDA's help, Rep. Nehls first introduced the Trucker Bathroom Access Act in 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic made dockside restroom denials a widespread complaint, and he has reintroduced it in each session since, according to Land Line Media, the magazine of OOIDA. The standalone bill never gained decisive traction, but its language was also rolled into the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's highway bill, the BUILD America 250 Act, which advanced out of committee earlier this year. States have moved in parallel: New Hampshire's governor signed a state bill this year requiring businesses to let drivers use existing restrooms during deliveries and pickups.
Source: Land Line Media (OOIDA)
Punjabi drivers make up a large share of the trucking workforce on North America's long-haul corridors, and dock waits of several hours are a routine part of the job on both sides of the border. A federal access rule would apply at warehouses, distribution centres and retailers nationwide — the exact places where drivers say they are most often turned away — without asking any facility to build anything new.
What happens next
Introduction is the first step, not the finish line. The Senate bill now sits with the Commerce Committee, on which both sponsors serve; it would need committee approval and passage in both chambers before reaching the president's desk. Its prospects are helped by two things the earlier House-only efforts lacked: a bipartisan Senate pair and an industry coalition that includes both the largest owner-operator group and the largest fleet association. TheTrucker.com reported the introduction the same day, and driver groups say they will press lawmakers to move it alongside the wider highway-bill debate.
Source: TheTrucker.com