Don Bacon

Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act of 2024

This bill establishes a standard of care for the selection of brokers and other entities that contract with motor carriers (e.g., trucking companies) for the shipment of goods or household goods. (A broker is the middle person between a shipper and a motor carrier. Brokers arrange for the transportation of property or household goods.)

Specifically, the bill requires such entities to verify that a transporting motor carrier (1) is properly registered with the Department of Transportation (DOT); (2) has obtained the minimum required insurance coverage; and (3) is in compliance with all Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration safety standards, including through a public confirmation statement. Entities that comply with the verification requirements shall be considered reasonable and prudent in the selection of a covered motor carrier (for the purposes of a claim of negligent selection of a motor carrier).

Further, DOT must promulgate final regulations that revise the methodology for issuing motor carrier safety fitness determinations. The regulations must provide a procedure for DOT to determine whether a motor carrier is not fit to operate a commercial motor vehicle that is in, or affects, interstate commerce.

The bill exempts from the verification requirements an individual shipper (i.e., a shipper that owns the goods being transported and pays the tariff transportation charges) that contracts with a covered motor carrier.

Fairness for Khobar Act of 2025

This bill authorizes lump sum catch-up payments from the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund to certain victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing who did not apply for catch-up payments during the application period. The USVSST Fund is administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and provides compensation to certain U.S. persons injured in acts of international state sponsored terrorism and their immediate family members.

The Fairness for 9/11 Families Act, enacted in 2022, authorized and provided funding for lump sum catch-up payments from the USVSST Fund to victims of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing or the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. Claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions from the USVSST Fund were also eligible for lump sum payments, but the act required them to apply from December 29, 2022, to June 27, 2023. In a 2024 report, the Government Accountability Office found that up to 274 eligible victims did not apply for lump sum catch-up payments because of DOJ guidance that stated, in part, that claimants who were previously found eligible for regular payment distributions are not eligible for the lump sum catch-up payments.

New Era of Preventing End-Stage Kidney Disease Act

This bill establishes regional centers of excellence, postgraduate fellowships, and training for health professionals relating to the diagnosis and treatment of rare kidney disease. It also requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct various studies on rare kidney disease.

Specifically, it authorizes the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to award funding to public and private nonprofit entities for establishing regional centers of excellence that will increase public awareness, conduct research, and develop resources for diagnosing and treating rare kidney diseases. A center may receive such funding for up to five years, unless extended by the institute.

The bill also requires health professions schools receiving a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Centers of Excellence program to award fellowships for training on preventing, diagnosing, and treating rare kidney disease in disproportionately impacted populations.

Also, the bill expands the priorities of HRSA’s Primary Care Training and Enhancement program to include training for health care workers to care for individuals with kidney disease.

Additionally, HHS must conduct several studies and report to Congress on topics such as treating rare kidney disease in disproportionately affected populations, eliminating the need for dialysis or kidney transplants, and increasing public awareness of rare kidney disease.