Inside This Issue...

President Bush has acknowledged Canadian concerns about a new passport rule that would require all travelers within the Western hemisphere to produce a passport or a new equivalent by Jan. 1, 2008. Though the Senate has already voted to delay the requirement until June 1, 2009, the House has not yet acted. At a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week, Bush repeatedly said he would go along if Congress changes the law.

Republican Senate leaders are considering how to compromise with the House on its version of the controversial immigration bill. Senators may agree to a two-phase plan that would call for construction of triple-layer walls, deployment of surveillance aircraft, and other means of tightening Mexican border security. Though funding and implementing those measures could take up to two years, their completion would enable debate on some version of the Senate's proposals. In the meantime, the House announced this month that it would hold field hearings on immigration this summer. The first two were held last week in San Diego, California and Laredo, Texas.

This grant program is geared at states that do not have a statewide donor registry, and those states that do have a statewide donor registry that does not have enrollment capability through the motor vehicle licensing offices. The program enables states to develop and implement, in collaboration with all organ procurement organizations with service areas in that state and representatives of the eye and tissue banks in that state, a statewide registry of residents who wish to be an organ and tissue donor. The application deadline is July 24, 2006. Visit www.grants.gov for more information. Or, contact Venus Walker, Healthcare Systems Bureau, HRSA, at (301) 443-7578 or vwalker@hrsa.gov.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) invites public comments about its intention to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval for a new information collection titled "National Evaluation of a Mileage-Based Road User Charge." Section 1919 of The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users of 2005 (SAFETEA-LU) calls for a study and long-term field test of a new mechanism for collecting revenues to fund state and federal highway programs. This would be an alternative to the fuel tax that currently supports highway construction programs. The legislation specifies that the study include an analysis of a long-term field test of an approach to assessing highway use fees based upon actual mileage driven by a vehicle equipped with an on-board computer for the purpose of calculating highway mileage traversed. Respondents will include approximately 1,200 field-test participants in the first year of field-testing and 1,500 in the second year. The frequency will be every two months of the field-test period—six collections from each participant. The estimated Total Annual Burden Hours are approximately 2,400 hours in the first year and 3,000 in the second year. Please submit comments identified by Docket Number FHWA-2006-25257 by Sept. 5, 2006 on the Web at http://dms.dot.gov

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is holding public Sunshine Act meetings in Chicago. These will provide an overview of the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement requirements set forth under section 4305 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, and the administrative functioning of the Board. The meetings will take place July 13, 2006, 1 pm to 5 pm, and July 14, 2006, 8 am to 12 pm at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL 60666. For more information, contact William Quade at (202) 366-or Bryan Price at (412) 395-4816.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are holding six public meetings and a national Webcast concerning a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Statewide and Metropolitan Planning Requirements. Presentations delivered at these meetings will describe the provisions of the NPRM jointly issued by FTA and FHWA on June 9, 2006 to provide guidance on implementing the planning provisions of Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the federal surface transportation law. The meetings will be held in July and August in Atlanta, New York City, Kansas City, Oakland, Chicago, and Cambridge. In addition to the NPRM outreach sessions, FHWA and FTA will conduct a national Webcast on July 13, 2006 from 1 pm to 3 p.m. eastern standard time. The Webcast will include a presentation on the NPRM, and participants will have an opportunity to submit questions electronically. Interested parties may learn more and register for the event, which is hosted by the Center for Transportation and the Environment, at the organization's Web site. For more information, contact FTA's Effie S. Stallsmith Effie.Stallsmith@dot.gov or FHWA's Robert Ritter at (202) 493-2139.

Debate over legislation to extend expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act has been stalled over differences of opinion on the Act's bilingual language assistance requirements. On May 10, the House Judiciary Committee approved the measure to extend the law's expiring provisions for 25 more years. A markup of the Senate version is slated tentatively for July 13 or July 20.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is adapting its Basic Pilot database to allow an employer to determine an employee's eligibility using a green card or employment authorization document number. Basic Pilot will speed up eligibility verification and may include other data, such as information about non-immigrants who have extended or changed status.

New overlapping government requirements may require truck drivers to pay more than $500 to get a driver's license, enter a secure area, and cross the border. For example, a truck driver currently needs a permit to carry hazardous materials, but in the future, the driver will need one ID to enter a secure area for cargo and another Transportation Worker Identification Credential to enter secure areas in ports. In addition, there are driver's license requirements in the Real ID Act of 2005 and passport requirements in the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Though all these programs have similar requirements, they are not coordinated with one another. The Office of Screening Coordination and Operations, part of the Department of Homeland Security, was tasked with this coordination. However, though it received funding for fiscal 2006, the office will not be funded in the House version of the fiscal 2007 appropriations bill. The administration has requested $4 million for 17 full-time employees in fiscal 2007.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) invites public comment on a new information collection requirement, the Traveler Identity Verification Form (TIVF), that the agency will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. The TIVF will be available on the TSA Web site at http://www.tsa.gov. Comments are due by Aug. 28, 2006. For more information or to mail or deliver comments, contact Katrina Wawer, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the Chief Counsel, TSA-2, TSA, 601 South 12th Street, Arlington, VA 22202-4220, (571) 227-1995.

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) has prepared a report for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety titled “Reducing the Crash Risk for Young Drivers.” Authored by Dan Mayhew, Herb Simpson, Deanna Singhal, and Katherine Desmond, the report examines why young drivers continue to crash, even when they are protected by an effective Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) system. The study concludes that teens still crash because: important protective features, such as night and passenger restrictions, are missing from some GDL programs; not all teens comply with the provisions of GDL; and, many teens crash under conditions not addressed by GDL programs. The report is available online at the AAA Foundation's Web site.

Please share information with your fellow jurisdictions by responding to these surveys from Utah: Medical screening (ends 7/11/06) and Reciprocity with foreign jurisdictions (ends 7/13/2006). Contact Member & Conference Services at info@aamva.org if you need a user ID and password. Please also consider responding to the following surveys which are still open:

• Mississippi - Driver's License Compact Agreement with Canada  (Ends 7/31/06)
• Virginia - Road Test Policy  (Ends 7/17/06)
• Wisconsin - Authorized stay for non-citizens / temporary DLs  (Ends 7/26/06)
• Ontario - Use of Panel Vans for Passenger Vehicle Road Tests  (Ends 7/17/06)
• Maryland - Driver's Ed and Deaf/Hearing Impaired Students  (Ends 7/31/06)

Information on AAMVA's annual Motor Vehicle and Traffic Law Institute is available online. The Motor Vehicle & Traffic Law Institute will take place in Denver, Colorado, July 29 through August 2. The AAMVA law institute offers your agency the unique opportunity to network and discuss the latest legal trends with attorneys, administrators and law enforcement officials from across the United States and Canada. Register today! The hotel cutoff date is July 14!

AAMVA is conducting a needs assessment related to customer service delivery. Please take a few minutes to respond to this survey so that we may learn how we can better serve the needs of the AAMVA community. The survey closes July 17, 2006. Please contact Member and Conference Services at info@aamva.org if you need a user ID and password. AAMVA appreciates your input!