Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”: The Good, The Bad, and What It Really Means for the Trucking Industry

By Safety Lane Staff

July 2025

🏛️ How Did We Get Here?

For years, the trucking industry has wrestled with tight margins, a chronic driver shortage, and mounting regulatory pressures — all while being the beating heart of America’s supply chain. The Big Beautiful Bill — officially the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — has been pitched as a game-changing economic overhaul, the biggest since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The idea traces back to Trump’s first term. He promised to deliver a “one big beautiful” tax bill that would slash taxes, simplify compliance, and give businesses the capital they need to reinvest — especially industries like trucking that are critical to domestic manufacturing and supply chains.

After multiple failed attempts and years of partisan gridlock, a mix of supply chain chaos, industrial decline, and an extended freight recession created the perfect storm for its passage in mid-2025. The final version passed by the slimmest of margins, balancing massive tax cuts and corporate incentives with deep spending cuts to certain social programs and green energy subsidies.

⚙️ What the Bill Actually Does for Trucking

Below is a deep look at each major piece, why it matters, what the reality is today, and how things could actually play out in the field.

🏗️ 1️⃣ Infrastructure & Truck Parking

What’s in the Bill

• Directs billions to rebuild aging highways and bridges.

• Expands grants for new truck parking capacity, particularly along freight-heavy corridors like I-80, I-95, and I-40.

• Earmarks funds to modernize rest areas, weigh stations, and digital signage.

Current Reality Ask any driver and they’ll tell you — parking is a nightmare. FMCSA surveys show that more than 90% of drivers struggle to find safe, legal parking on their routes. That leads to parking in unsafe areas or hours-of-service (HOS) violations, putting safety and compliance at risk.

What It Means More safe parking means:✅ Less time wasted looking for spots.✅ Lower risk of HOS violations.✅ Better rest for drivers, improving safety.✅ Fewer parking tickets and citations that can hurt CSA scores.

It’s one of the few areas that both ATA and OOIDA strongly supported. The challenge? States will have to actually use the funds and build the spaces. Many drivers remember similar promises in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that still haven’t fully materialized.

🧾 2️⃣ Tax Reform: Equipment Expensing & Depreciation

What’s in the Bill

• 100% immediate expensing for new trucks, trailers, and qualifying safety technology.

• Extends bonus depreciation that was due to phase out.

• Expands Section 179 expensing limits for small fleets.

Current Reality Before this bill, fleets depreciated expensive equipment over 3–7 years. Smaller fleets often delayed replacing aging trucks because of high upfront costs and complex tax rules.

What It Means

✅ Fleets can lower their taxable income immediately — freeing up cash flow for reinvestment.✅ Could lead to newer, safer, more fuel-efficient trucks on the road.✅ Maintenance costs could go down, which helps margins.

Pros

• Good for larger fleets with healthy profits to offset.

• Could bring used truck prices down as larger fleets trade in older rigs.

Cons

• Smaller owner-operators often run under pass-through tax status, so they may not see the same benefit.

• If you’re not making significant profit, you may not need big deductions.

OOIDA’s TakeOOIDA argued the expensing overwhelmingly favors mega-carriers and leasing companies that replace equipment on a rolling basis.

👷 3️⃣ Workforce Development & Training Credits

What’s in the Bill

• Tax credits for carriers to fund CDL training, apprenticeships, and driver upskilling.

• New incentives for hiring veterans and transitioning them into the trucking workforce.

Current Reality The driver shortage remains one of the industry’s biggest headaches — estimated at over 80,000 drivers short. Training a new driver costs thousands of dollars, which many small fleets can’t absorb.

What It Means

✅ Training credits help carriers bring in new drivers.

✅ May reduce the burden on new entrants paying for their own schooling.

✅ Could boost retention if fleets invest in quality training.

Watch-Outs

• Critics say this helps the larger fleets that run big in-house training schools — not necessarily the small companies that rely on experienced independents.

• Will it really fix the shortage if wages, conditions, and turnover stay the same?

⏱️ 4️⃣ The Overtime Exemption: Nothing Changes

What’s in the Bill

• New tax breaks for hourly overtime pay — but not for truck drivers, who remain exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Current Reality

Most long-haul drivers are paid by the mile. They legally have no right to overtime, even when they work 60–70 hours per week.

What It Means

❌ Warehouse workers may benefit from overtime relief, but the men and women hauling the freight won’t.

❌ OOIDA fought to include overtime protection but lost that battle.

❌ The exemption is why many drivers feel exploited — more unpaid wait time means more unpaid work.

⚡️ 5️⃣ Emissions & Environmental Rollbacks

What’s in the Bill

• Kills federal funding for stricter zero-emission truck mandates.

• Voids state rules that go further than federal standards — a direct strike at California’s Advanced Clean Fleets rule.

• Cancels new EPA rules for heavy-duty trucks due to take effect in 2027.

Current Reality Big fleets have been under pressure to adopt expensive electric trucks and comply with stricter NOx rules. Small fleets fear they’ll get priced out of compliance.

What It Means

✅ Near-term compliance costs drop — good for cash-strapped diesel fleets.

✅ No need to overhaul maintenance shops for EV yet.

✅ But it delays the industry’s shift to lower-emission freight — which might backfire when the next administration tries to re-tighten rules.

🔍 6️⃣ FMCSA & Compliance

What’s in the Bill

• Extra funding for FMCSA to modernize DataQs — the portal drivers and carriers use to challenge inspection violations and crashes.

• More grants for state-level data collection to make crash reporting more consistent.

• New research into safety tech like automatic emergency braking (AEB), side underride guards, and telematics for better tracking.

Current Reality

DataQs is painfully slow, inconsistent, and frustrating. A single bad inspection can tank a carrier’s CSA score, raising insurance premiums.

What It Means

✅ A better system could help small fleets clear up false violations faster.

✅ More consistent crash data means fairer safety ratings.

✅ Expect stricter enforcement on carriers that ignore compliance.

🌎 7️⃣ Supply Chain Resilience & “Made in America”

What’s in the Bill

• Major tax credits for companies reshoring manufacturing of truck parts, trailers, and semiconductors.

• Infrastructure upgrades for ports and intermodal hubs.

Current Reality COVID-19 showed what happens when global supply chains fail — parts shortages, repair delays, and wild cost swings.

What It Means

✅ Could stabilize parts prices and reduce downtime.

✅ Will take years to see real impact — factories don’t pop up overnight.

✅ U.S. labor costs mean some parts might stay more expensive than foreign-made options.

🤝 Why ATA & OOIDA Didn’t Always Agree

American Trucking Associations (ATA), which represents big carriers, largely backed the bill’s expensing, parking funding, and infrastructure investments. They see certainty and predictability.

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) pushed hard for overtime pay protection, a fairer playing field for small fleets, and better protection against predatory dispatch practices — but didn’t get all they wanted. They warn the bill helps the biggest players more than the small independents who haul America’s most challenging freight.

📊 The Bottom Line: Pros & Cons

Benefit	Details	Who Wins?
✅ Equipment Expensing	Faster write-offs for trucks & trailers	Big fleets, profitable small carriers
✅ Truck Parking Funding	More spaces, safer HOS compliance	All drivers
✅ FMCSA DataQs Upgrades	Faster, fairer dispute process	Small carriers, independents
✅ Training Tax Credits	Lowers cost of CDL schools	Fleets that recruit new drivers
✅ Domestic Manufacturing Incentives	Strengthens supply chain	Parts makers, maintenance shops

Concern	Details	Who Loses?
❌ Overtime Exemption	Drivers remain ineligible	Long-haul drivers
❌ Emissions Rollbacks	Stalls clean truck adoption	Sustainability goals
❌ Favoring Big Fleets	Tax breaks more usable by big profit carriers	Small owner-operators

📌 What Should You Do Now?

✅ Owner-Operators & Small Fleets: Talk to your accountant. Understand if immediate expensing makes sense for your tax situation — don’t just buy new trucks because the big fleets are.

✅ Safety Managers: Use the new parking grants as leverage to plan safer routes and rest schedules. Push your states to actually build the lots!

✅ Drivers: Keep an eye on your hours and weigh the trade-offs. More parking helps, but the overtime fight is not over — get involved in pushing for fair pay protections.

✅ Everyone: Follow how FMCSA rolls out the DataQs upgrades and new safety research. Faster dispute resolution could improve your CSA scores — and your insurance rates.

The Big Beautiful Bill is the biggest tax and spending pivot for trucking in nearly a decade. It could deliver real benefits: safer roads, newer trucks, more parking, and stronger supply chains. But it also leaves big questions: Will drivers see better conditions and pay? Or will the same old loopholes widen the gap between mega-carriers and the folks behind the wheel?

No matter your role — driver, fleet owner, or safety professional — knowing exactly what’s in this law will help you navigate the road ahead.

Stay tuned. Safety Lane will track how FMCSA implements its new funding and how the industry uses these tax breaks: Will they lift up drivers — or widen the gap between mega-fleets and independents?

Stay safe, stay smart, and keep rolling.

— Safety Lane Magazine Your trusted source for compliance, safety, and the stories behind the industry.