Congress lets 80-foot trucks haul cars nationwide, overriding state safety rules
H.R. 2755 — Lowboy Auto Hauler Fairness Act of 2025 · Filed by Tom Barrett (R-MI) · Introduced Apr 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal truck-length regulations to allow truck-tractor-lowboy trailer combinations (vehicles used to haul assembled cars and trucks) to reach 80 feet in total length, overriding state laws that impose shorter limits. It also exempts lowboy trailers from certain rear-overhang flag requirements. The primary beneficiaries are auto-hauling companies and trucking firms operating these specialized vehicles.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a federal preemption of state vehicle-length limits, allowing longer trucks to operate nationwide. This is a classic deregulatory move that benefits trucking operators by removing a constraint on vehicle size and overriding state safety authority.
What the text implies
- Federal preemption of state vehicle-length regulations may reduce state revenue from oversize-permit fees and limit states' ability to enforce road-safety standards tailored to local infrastructure.
- Longer lowboy trailers (up to 80 feet) may increase accident risk on highways and secondary roads, particularly in states with narrower lanes or older bridge infrastructure not designed for such vehicles.
- The exemption from rear-overhang flag requirements (49 CFR §393.87) reduces visibility and warning signage for other drivers, potentially increasing collision risk.
- Auto-hauling companies gain a competitive advantage over other freight operators, as the bill applies only to lowboy trailers used for vehicle transport, not general cargo hauling.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens may benefit modestly from potential reductions in vehicle-shipping costs if trucking operators pass savings forward, and longer vehicles can reduce per-unit transportation emissions. However, the bill primarily serves narrow industry interests (auto-haulers and trucking firms) by preempting state safety regulations; longer trucks on highways may increase accident risk and road wear, costs borne by the public and state governments.
Who stands to gain
- auto-hauling and vehicle-transport companies
- trucking operators specializing in assembled-vehicle transport
- truck manufacturers and dealers (via reduced shipping costs)
Named in the bill
49 USC §31111, 49 CFR §393.87, truck-tractor-lowboy trailer combinations, auto-hauling industry, state transportation departments
Where it stands
- Apr 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 9, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $90,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 10 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Tom Barrett, the sponsor, reported $1,108,876 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Coalition Against Bigger Trucks — $90,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 14, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,226 characters) on Sep 26, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 15,166 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 14, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-26.
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