Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens transportation safety and anti‑trafficking deterrence by uniformly disqualifying convicted traffickers from operator licenses, but it does so by imposing permanent bans that reduce employment and rehabilitation options and create legal and administrative challenges.
Passengers and the public: prevents individuals convicted of serious human-trafficking-related offenses from holding operating licenses for ships, planes, trains, and commercial vehicles, thereby increasing transportation safety.
Victims and communities at risk of trafficking: blocks offenders from transportation roles commonly used in trafficking, reducing opportunities for reoffense and supporting anti‑trafficking deterrence and victim protection efforts.
State and federal authorities: creates uniform disqualification criteria across multiple transportation modes, simplifying enforcement for DOT/DHS and reducing regulatory gaps between jurisdictions.
Transportation workers with convictions: permanently bars some individuals from transportation careers, reducing employment opportunities and long-term prospects for rehabilitation and reintegration.
Transportation workers with past convictions: permanent disqualification eliminates conditional or rehabilitative pathways (such as time-limited suspensions or supervised return), potentially keeping reformed, qualified individuals out of safety‑critical roles long-term.
Federal agencies and courts: use of a 'substantially similar' standard for out-of-jurisdiction offenses may produce inconsistent application across states/tribes/localities, raising litigation risk and administrative burden.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Permanently bars people convicted of human-trafficking-related offenses from receiving or keeping federal transportation licenses or authorizations and requires DOT/DHS to disqualify holders/applicants.
Introduced November 5, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress November 5, 2025
Bars people convicted of human-trafficking-related crimes from receiving or keeping federal transportation licenses, certificates, or authorizations. The law adds a permanent disqualification across multiple transportation sectors (maritime, aviation, rail, trucking and other DOT/DHS licenses) and requires federal agencies to deny or revoke credentials for anyone convicted under federal law or a substantially similar state, local, or tribal law. Applies to merchant mariner credentials, airman certificates, commercial driver's licenses and related authorizations, locomotive and train crew credentials, and directs the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security to extend the same disqualification to other transportation-related credentials they control.