Background Checks, Fees Considered a Burden on Drivers

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ive years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the U.S. trucking industry spent 2006 addressing another proposed round of federal background-check requirements.

The Department of Homeland Security issued its long-awaited proposal for a single identification card for port workers, but Congress saw the program as potentially disruptive and costly to truck drivers and took up legislation that would ease costs and requirements on truckers.

DHS began name-based checks for nearly 725,000 port workers, including truck drivers, as part of the rollout of its Transportation Worker Identification Credential program in April, officials with the department announced.

The name-based checks began about a month before the agency published its full proposal for the TWIC program. The checks were meant to help sort out potential risks, and “workers who we determine pose a security risk will be denied access to our nation’s ports,” DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

For the full story, see the Dec. 18-25 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.