Predatory Truck Leasing Prevention Act of 2025

Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to prohibit the use of predatory commercial motor vehicle lease-purchase programs by motor carriers providing transportation subject to jurisdiction under subchapter I of chapter 135.

In promulgating regulations pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall establish a process by which drivers can be granted relief from the terms of a lease-purchase agreement if—

(A) the Secretary finds that the terms of the lease-purchase agreement violated regulations issued pursuant to paragraph (1); and

(B) the lease-purchase agreement was entered into after the effective date of the regulations issued pursuant to paragraph (1).

In this subsection:

The term predatory commercial motor vehicle lease-purchase agreement program means the framework of motor carrier-driver relationship, including the lease-purchase agreement, the contract for the driver’s work for the motor carrier, and the motor carrier’s practices in implementing the contracts that are not provided in the contract, including the motor carrier’s recruitment practices, operational practices, and tax and finance practices, whereby the motor carrier controls the work, compensation, and debts of the driver, and the driver accrues no equity or is forced to give up equity accrued in the contracted truck.

The term lease-purchase agreement means a financial contract by which a driver leases a commercial motor vehicle from a motor carrier (or a firm affiliated with such motor carrier) to haul freight while driving for the same motor carrier under a separate contract.