Five members of the House of Representatives have introduced a bill, H.R. 8218, to increase the minimum financial responsibility requirement for for-hire motor carriers transporting general freight from $750,000 to $5 million. The change would go into effect one year after the bill is enacted into law.

The bill would not increase the current $1 million or $5 million insurance requirements for hazardous materials carriers or impose any federal insurance requirements on private motor carriers (private fleets are only subject to state minimum financial responsibly requirements). At present, there is no companion bill in the Senate.

A recent report from the FMCSA to Congress found that the agency’s minimum financial responsibility requirements have not kept pace with inflation. FMCSA requires for-hire motor carriers to have a minimum of $750,000 in liability coverage. Carriers of hazardous materials are required to have $1 million or $5 million in coverage, depending on the type of materials transported. There are no federal minimum financial responsibility requirements for private carriers, although they are subject to state requirements.

But these minimum federal insurance requirements have not changed since they went into effect in 1985. Using an inflation index over the past 40 years, FMCSA noted medical costs have significantly outpaced the core Consumer Price Index (4.21 percent annually for medical care, compared to 2.80 percent for core).

FMCSA said a general freight carrier would need coverage of $2,192,825 to provide the same coverage as the $750,000 minimum since 1985; this rises to $3,725.822 using the medical cost index. For hazmat carriers, the $5 million coverage would need to be $14,618,836 to provide the same protection using the core inflation index, and $24,838,811 using the medical cost index.