The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has approved H.R. 8870, the BUILD America 250 Act — a bipartisan, five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill that invests $580 billion in the nation’s roads, bridges, and highway safety programs and includes three provisions with direct implications for every independent carrier and dispatcher operating in the United States. Here is what the bill does, who supported it, and what to watch as it moves toward a Senate floor vote.
- Allocates $750 million over five years for truck parking construction and conversions, the largest federal parking investment in over a decade.
- Creates the first federal autonomous commercial truck framework, preempting state patchwork and enabling consistent interstate AV operations for carriers and fleet operators.
- Establishes a Cargo Theft Advisory Committee and advances veteran workforce initiatives via the TRANSPORT Jobs Act to address theft and driver shortages.
- Now moves to Senate committees, watch for changes to truck parking and AV provisions, and engage ATA or senators before final reauthorization.
$750 Million for Truck Parking Over Five Years
The single most tangible near-term win for owner-operators in the BUILD America 250 Act is the dedicated truck parking investment. The bill allocates $750 million over five years for the construction of new truck parking facilities and the conversion of existing properties into additional parking spaces, according to ATA’s legislative summary. This follows the $200 million in truck parking funding the American Trucking Associations had already secured in the current framework, per ATA’s advocacy reporting.
The Hours of Service parking crisis is a daily operational reality for long-haul drivers. When drivers cannot find legal parking at the end of their 11-hour drive window, they either park illegally (creating an HOS violation risk) or drive past their legal limit to reach a truck stop (creating a safety and enforcement risk). The $750 million is not a comprehensive fix for a deficit that industry studies have estimated in the tens of thousands of spaces nationally, but it is the largest single federal parking commitment since the 2015 FAST Act’s $130 million allocation.
Subtitle E: The First Federal Autonomous Truck Framework
Subtitle E of the BUILD America 250 Act, titled “Safe Integration of Autonomous Commercial Motor Vehicles,” represents the first time Congress has attempted to write a national rulebook for driverless trucks, according to FreightWaves’ analysis. The provision creates a federal preemption framework that would establish minimum standards for AV truck operation across all states, preventing the current patchwork of state-by-state AV regulations from creating operational barriers for carriers running autonomous vehicles across state lines.
The federal AV framework provision directly intersects with the active deployments by Aurora Innovation and Kodiak Robotics on the I-45 corridor between Dallas and Houston, as well as California’s recently finalized AV heavy truck regulations. A federal standard that establishes consistent operational parameters across Texas, California, Arizona, and the rest of the I-10 corridor would significantly accelerate the commercial viability of autonomous long-haul trucking by eliminating state-by-state compliance costs for AV fleet operators. For independent carriers and dispatchers who are not running AV equipment now, the federal framework matters as a competitive landscape signal: it removes a major policy barrier that AV fleet operators have been waiting for.
“Subtitle E is the first time Congress has tried to write a national rulebook for driverless trucks.”
— FreightWaves, BUILD America 250 Act coverage
Cargo Theft Advisory Committee and TRANSPORT Jobs Act
The BUILD America 250 Act also includes language creating a Cargo Theft Advisory Committee that will provide recommendations to the DOT on theft prevention strategies, per Logistics Management’s committee vote coverage. This comes on the heels of the House’s passage of the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) in May and the industry’s ongoing campaign against cargo theft that now costs the sector an estimated $18 million per day.
A second notable provision is the bipartisan TRANSPORT Jobs Act, which directs federal agencies to develop a plan addressing barriers in transportation and supply chain occupations for separating and retiring service members. With the ATA estimating an 82,000-driver shortage in 2026, this veteran pipeline initiative targets a demonstrated talent pool with existing commercial vehicle experience in many cases.
What Comes Next and What to Watch
- Senate Committee referral: After passing the House T&I Committee, H.R. 8870 faces a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee review. Watch for the committee markup session, expected in Q3 2026. Any changes to Subtitle E (AV framework) or the truck parking allocation at the Senate level will be the most consequential amendments for independent carriers.
- ATA lobbying position: The American Trucking Associations has publicly applauded the T&I Committee vote and is pushing for the Senate to preserve the truck parking funding at $750 million. Independent carriers who want to shape the final bill can engage their ATA state chapter or contact their Senate offices directly.
- CORCA Senate vote: The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act passed the House in May 2026 and is now awaiting a Senate vote. Its cargo theft provisions are separate from the BUILD Act’s Advisory Committee, but together they represent the most comprehensive federal anti-theft legislative push in trucking history. Watch for a Senate floor vote in June.
- Reauthorization deadline: The current surface transportation authorization (IIJA provisions) runs through fiscal year 2026. A lapse without reauthorization would affect federal highway funding distribution. The BUILD Act’s committee passage is a strong signal that Congress intends to act before that deadline.
The BUILD America 250 Act’s combination of truck parking investment, AV framework legislation, cargo theft response, and veteran workforce pipeline represents the most comprehensive congressional engagement with the trucking industry’s structural challenges since the FAST Act in 2015. For independent carriers and dispatchers, the immediate priority is the truck parking funding — because that is the provision with the most direct operational impact in the 12–24 months following passage. The Senate timeline and any conference committee changes between the House and Senate versions will determine the final shape of the bill. Stay current via ATA’s news and insights page and The Trucker’s ongoing coverage.
