Trucking's Insurance Reckoning: Hill Bill Would Force Sevenfold Hike in Crash Coverage

A figure set when Jimmy Carter was still in the White House is at the centre of a new Congressional battle that could reshape the economics of American trucking. Reps. Jesús "Chuy" García and Derek Tran reintroduced the Fair Compensation for Truck Crash Victims Act this week, a bill that would increase the minimum insurance requirement for interstate motor carriers from $750,000 to $5 million.

The arithmetic is straightforward. Congress established the $750,000 insurance minimum when it deregulated trucking in 1980 — and that number has not been raised since. Adjusted for medical-cost inflation, that same sum would be worth over $5.8 million in today's money, meaning the current floor offers victims a fraction of the protection lawmakers originally intended.

Supporters frame it as a matter of basic justice. Tran, who worked as a trial lawyer before entering Congress, argues that outdated minimums leave workers and families buried by medical bills after catastrophic crashes. Safety advocacy groups have lined up behind the legislation, with backing from the Truck Safety Coalition, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, and the Institute for Safer Trucking.

The industry sees it differently. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in a recent report to Congress, acknowledged that crash costs can exceed current minimums in severe cases — but said it lacks sufficient data to justify raising the requirement. For smaller carriers already squeezed by rising fuel costs and a tightening freight market, the prospect of dramatically higher insurance premiums could prove existential.

García has introduced similar legislation in 2019, 2021 and 2023 — each time without success. Whether the political climate has shifted enough to carry it further this time remains to be seen. But with trucking already under acute financial pressure, the debate over who bears the true cost of a crash is only getting louder.