Moratorium Issued on Enforcement of 2010 UCRA Fees
By Kenneth E. Siegel*
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the organization of state officials involved with truck safety, has issued a bulletin to its members announcing a moratorium on the enforcement of 2010 fees imposed under the Unified Carrier Registration Agreement. The moratorium was brought about due to the failure of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency charged with this job under federal statute, to announce a fee schedule of 2010. The responsibility for setting the annual UCRA fee is delegated to the FMCSA by Congress under the UCRA Act. In response to a proposal by the UCRA Board of Directors, last fall the FMCSA proposed to raise the fees by some 120% on a per-vehicle basis over the levels in effect for earlier years. The proposal was opposed by shippers, carriers, and other affected parties. The FMCSA still has the proposal under review. States that participate in the UCRA program can collect no fees at all for 2010 until FMCSA publishes the new fees which may still be weeks or months off. In the meantime, the states cannot issue citations to any carrier that has not paid fees for 2010. CVSA notes, however, that enforcement of UCRA requirements for years 2007 through 2009 can proceed as before, where the state enforcement agency has information that a carrier operated interstate in those years without paying the applicable UCRA fees.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the organization of state officials involved with truck safety, has issued a bulletin to its members announcing a moratorium on the enforcement of 2010 fees imposed under the Unified Carrier Registration Agreement. The moratorium was brought about due to the failure of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency charged with this job under federal statute, to announce a fee schedule of 2010. The responsibility for setting the annual UCRA fee is delegated to the FMCSA by Congress under the UCRA Act. In response to a proposal by the UCRA Board of Directors, last fall the FMCSA proposed to raise the fees by some 120% on a per-vehicle basis over the levels in effect for earlier years. The proposal was opposed by shippers, carriers, and other affected parties. The FMCSA still has the proposal under review. States that participate in the UCRA program can collect no fees at all for 2010 until FMCSA publishes the new fees which may still be weeks or months off. In the meantime, the states cannot issue citations to any carrier that has not paid fees for 2010. CVSA notes, however, that enforcement of UCRA requirements for years 2007 through 2009 can proceed as before, where the state enforcement agency has information that a carrier operated interstate in those years without paying the applicable UCRA fees.
*The editor is Of Counsel in Strasburger’s Washington, D.C. office and can be contacted for further information at (202) 742-8602 or kenneth.siegel@strasburger.com.
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