H.R. 2258 (115^th): ADVANCE Act

H.R. 2258 exempts active duty military and reserve personnel with qualifying experience from certain testing requirements when they try to obtain a commercial driver’s license. Currently, certain veterans are eligible for this exemption, which was included in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

Background Under current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations, states can waive certain testing requirements for former members of the armed forces and reserve components if they had qualifying experience while serving in the armed forces or the reserve components. This bill would extend this exemption to individuals who are currently serving in either the armed services or reserve components. According to the American Trucking Association, there is an estimated 40,000 truck driver shortage nationally.

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress, and was published on Jun 26, 2017.

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on June 23, 2017. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Active Duty Voluntary Acquisition of Necessary Credentials for Employment Act or the ADVANCE Act

(Sec. 2) This bill applies commercial driver's license standards for former members of the Armed Forces or reserves to current members of the Armed Forces or reserves.

The bill allows such covered individuals who have experience in driving vehicles similar to a commercial motor vehicle while serving in the Armed Forces or reserves to apply for an exemption from all or a portion of federal commercial motor vehicle driving test requirements.