Trucker Bathroom Access Act gets a Senate markup five days after introduction

The Trucker Bathroom Access Act is on the agenda to be marked up by the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 18, according to Land Line on Nov. 13 — five days after Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Deb Fischer of Nebraska introduced the bill in the Senate for the first time, a pace that marks this version of the long-running restroom fight as the one to watch.

The senators announced the introduction on Friday, Nov. 13, and Chairman Ted Cruz's committee notice lists "S. ____, Trucker Bathroom Access Act (Blunt Rochester, Fischer)" among the bills, nominations and Coast Guard promotions the full committee will take up in an executive session on Nov. 18 at 10:00 a.m. ET in Russell 253. The committee cautions that its agenda is subject to change, and a markup is a working session at which members consider and can amend a bill — not a vote on final passage. Even so, a slot on a full-committee agenda is the step the measure has never reached in either chamber: its House companion arrived early in this session of Congress, was referred to the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, and has drawn no further action there, according to Overdrive on Nov. 13.

What the bill would do is narrow. It would ensure that drivers have access to a restroom while picking up or delivering cargo, and it would require a shipper or receiver to give a driver the same access the business already gives its customers or its employees. It would not require any business to construct new restroom facilities — a limit written into the bill and stressed by its sponsors, aimed at the cost objection that has followed the proposal since the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association first initiated it.

The support lineup is broader than the bill's earlier runs. OOIDA, the American Trucking Associations, the Women in Trucking Association, She Trucking and Trinity Logistics all backed the Senate introduction. "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," OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in the senators' announcement.

The industry case being made for the bill is about dignity, health and the driver pipeline. Henry Hanscom, the ATA's chief advocacy and public affairs officer, noted that pickups and deliveries "can take hours on end while waiting to be loaded or unloaded," and said restroom access "is about ensuring the dignity of the men and women who do the heavy lifting to provide for everyone in this country" and that the bill "can also help reduce a major barrier to retaining and recruiting more truck drivers, particularly women." Lana Nichols, interim president and CEO of the Women in Trucking Association, said that when drivers cannot access a restroom during their workday, "it can affect their safety, health, dignity and overall experience on the job." Blunt Rochester made the same point from the sponsor's chair: "America's truck drivers are vital to keep our country moving forward," she said, adding that "increasingly, more women are filling these critical jobs, and they should feel confident their basic needs will be met." Fischer, whose state sits on the Interstate 80 freight corridor, called the bill "another way we can help our truckers who put in long hours to keep products moving." Both sponsors sit on the Commerce Committee that will mark the bill up.

The Senate bill also has a second route. Land Line reports the bathroom measure is already rolled into the House version of the highway bill, the BUILD America 250 Act, so the language could move either as a standalone bill or inside the surface transportation package. The clock, though, is short: as Overdrive notes, if action is not taken before the next Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2027, the bill will need to be reintroduced and the process starts over. The House companion is led by Reps. Troy Nehls of Texas and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.

For drivers, nothing changes at the dock this week: the bill is not law, and the Nov. 18 session is one committee's working meeting. What is worth watching is whether the committee reports the bill out — and in what form — because a reported bill with backing from both the owner-operator and fleet sides of the industry, and a parallel home in the highway bill, is further along than this idea has ever been. CDLWire will follow the markup.