Inside This Issue...

Along with the launch of its new Web site, AAMVA has also launched another communications tool, the AAMVA blog. AAMVA's goal for this blog, aptly entitled "Behind the Wheel," is to engage our members and consumers in meaningful conversations about issues we all care about: driver and vehicle safety. Access the blog at http://blog.aamva.org/ and check back often for new posts. AAMVA welcomes your comments.

The AAMVA and IRP, Inc. offices will be closed on Monday, Sept. 4 in observance of the Labor Day holiday. Also, The Week in Review will not be published the week of Sept. 4, 2006. It will resume publishing on Monday, Sept. 11. The AAMVA and IRP, Inc. offices will reopen on Tuesday, Sept. 5 at 8:30 am EDT.

There are many new features that we hope you will find useful, including:

• "My AAMVA" - register on the site and bookmark sections important to you.
• Survey tool - enhanced to meet your information needs: http://www.aamva.org/KnowledgeCenter/Tools/OnlineSurveys/Survey/
• The Knowledge Center - a collection of key resources: http://www.aamva.org/KnowledgeCenter/
• Online tutorials - will walk you through various features on the site - http://www.aamva.org/KnowledgeCenter/Tools/Tutorials/

The address is the same: www.aamva.org . You may have received an e-mail from Pierre Boyer that provides your new Web password. When you go to the site for the first time, go to the "My AAMVA" box in the upper left side of the front page and log in using your new password. If you did not already have a Web password, you may not have received that e-mail. If that is the case, please go to the "My AAMVA" box and click on register to establish your password. If you have any problems logging in or registering, please send a message to our Web Portal team at: WebPortalSupport@aamva.org. Thank you to all of the members who have provided input on the development of the new site through focus groups and surveys. Your comments and suggestions were invaluable and have contributed significantly to the redesign of AAMVA's Web site.

If you haven’t already done so, please respond to the following surveys that have been posted by your fellow jurisdictions. Contact Member & Conference Services if you need a user ID and password.

• Surrendering of Out of State or Foreign DL/ID (Ends 09/12/2006)
• Processing DL/ID Applications for Prisoners (Ends 09/06/2006)
• Driver Written Test Time Limit (Ends 09/06/2006)
• Fee Increases for Implementation of Real ID Act (Ends 09/06/2006)

To learn more about using the new survey tool, please visit our online tutorials: http://www.aamva.org/KnowledgeCenter/Tools/Tutorials/. If you have any questions about using the new survey tool, please contact Janice Dluzynski.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that an increase in motorcycle and pedestrian deaths contributed to the overall rise in highway fatalities in 2005. Specifically, the total number of fatalities rose 1.4 percent from 42,836 in 2004 to 43,443 in 2005. The rate of fatalities in 2005 was 1.47 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), up from 1.45 in 2004. Motorcycle fatalities rose 13 percent, from 4,028 in 2004 to 4,553 in 2005. However, other trends have improved. The number of young driver fatalities declined in 2005 for the third straight year. NHTSA is working to reduce the number of motorcycle fatalities. NHTSA collects crash statistics annually from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to produce annual reports of traffic fatality trends. The 2005 report is available on NHTSA's Web site.

Section 4142 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), which was enacted into law Aug. 10, 2005, authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to register brokers and freight forwarders of non-household goods (otherwise known as general commodities brokers and freight forwarders) if the Secretary finds that such registration is needed for the protection of shippers. FMCSA, which has been delegated authority to exercise the Secretary’s functions and activities regarding broker and freight forwarder registration, is making a finding that registration of brokers and freight forwarders of non-household goods is needed for the protection of shippers. Accordingly, the agency will continue to register all general commodities brokers and freight forwarders subject to its jurisdiction. For more information, contact Michael J. Falk, Office of Chief Counsel, at (202) 366-0834

The Department of Homeland Security, through the Transportation Security Administration and the United States Coast Guard, published an Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled “Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Implementation in the Maritime Sector; Hazardous Materials Endorsement for a Commercial Driver’s License” on May 22, 2006. In response to letters from Congress about the proposed rule, TSA sent out a letter and wants to make the public aware of this correspondence. Copies of this Notice as well as the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Comments received are all available in the dockets for this rulemaking. The dockets are available electronically at http://dms.dot.gov and may be located by the following docket numbers: TSA docket number TSA-2006-24191 or Coast Guard docket number USCG-2006-24196.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) invites comments on its plan to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval to renew an existing information collection. This information collection renewal will be used to assure that motor carriers of property and passengers maintain appropriate levels of financial responsibility to operate on public highways. This notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Respondents will include Insurance and surety companies of motor carriers of property (Forms MCS-90 and MCS-82) and motor carriers of passengers (Forms MCS-90B and MCS-82B). The estimated total annual burden is 4,529 hours. Comments must be submitted on or before Oct. 23, 2006. All comments should reference Docket No. FMCSA-2006-25586. You may mail or hand deliver comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Dockets Management Facility, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590; telefax comments to (202) 493-2251; or submit electronically at http://dms.dot.gov. For more information, contact Stephanie Haller, Commercial Enforcement, at (202) 385-2362 or stephanie.haller@fmcsa.dot.gov.

John H. Hill was nominated by President George W. Bush to become Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on May 16, 2006. He was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Aug. 4, 2006, and sworn into office on Aug. 10, 2006. From June 2003, Hill served as FMCSA's Chief Safety Officer and Assistant Administrator. As Chief Safety Officer and Assistant Administrator, he was responsible for establishing program policies and priorities, and developing strategic plans for the Agency's motor carrier safety operations. From 2001 to 2003, Hill served on AAMVA's Task Force for Identification Security. The mission of this task force was to assist in strengthening homeland security by improving and standardizing state protocols for the issuances of commercial driver's licenses. Hill served as Chair of the AAMVA International Law Enforcement Committee. He also served on the Board of Directors for AAMVAnet, which is responsible for the national Commercial Driver's License Information System (CDLIS). Please join AAMVA in congratulating Hill in his recent appointment.

The Office of Procurement Operations - Grants Division is providing funding for outreach, technical assistance and guidance to assist each state and U.S. territory in the development and refinement of their statewide plans and implementation strategies for improving interoperability communications with practitioner support. This effort will culminate in two reports: the first should identify best practices for the development and implementation of statewide plans; the second should demonstrate lessons learned from the states on their efforts to develop and implement statewide interoperability plans. The capstone outcome of this effort is that each state will have either created or updated a statewide communications plan. This opportunity is restricted ONLY to the National Governors Association. The closing date for applications is Sept. 5, 2006. Estimated Total Program Funding is $1,200,000. For more information, see the grants.gov Web site.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is adding state-licensed or certified marriage and family therapists to the list of credentialed professionals eligible to serve as substance abuse professionals under subpart O of 49 CFR part 40. The Department is also making a series of technical amendments to its drug and alcohol testing procedural rule. The purpose of the technical amendments is to clarify certain provisions of the rule as well as address omissions and typographical errors which have been called to our attention since the publication of the final rule in December 2000. This rule is effective Sept. 22, 2006. For more information, contact Bohdan Baczara, Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance, at (202) 366-3784 or bohdan.baczara@dot.gov.

A new Congressional Budget Office analysis has concluded that the Senate's immigration bill would raise government spending by as much as $126 billion over the next 10 years. The bill would require the government to pay out nearly $50 billion in federal benefits to new legal workers. In addition, the bill would necessitate the hiring of almost 31,000 federal workers in the next five years, and require the building and maintenance of 870 miles of fencing and vehicle barriers (a cost of $3.3 billion). The CBO's five-year cost estimates include $800 million to hire 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents; $2.6 billion to build detention facilities for 20,000; $3.3 billion to build and maintain border fencing and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico frontier; and $1.6 billion to establish a computerized system to verify the eligibility of applicants for lawful employment. The report also outlines the bill's impact on the population. It estimates that by 2016, more than 16 million people would either become legal permanent residents under the bill or attain some other legal status.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is transferring the TSA Civil Enforcement Docket from TSA’s Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, to the Docketing Center, Office of Administrative Law Judges, United States Coast Guard (USCG ALJ Docketing Center) in Baltimore, Maryland. Accordingly, the new address for the TSA Civil Enforcement Docket is: ALJ Docketing Center, U.S. Coast Guard, 40 S. Gay Street, Room 412, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4022, ATTN: Enforcement Docket Clerk. This transfer and new address are effective Aug. 22, 2006. For more information, contact Christine Rosenquist, Enforcement Division Paralegal, Office of the Chief Counsel, Transportation Security Administration, 601 South 12th Street, Arlington, VA 22202-4220 at (571) 227-3582 or christine.rosenquist@dhs.gov.

A new report entitled, "Driver Education: The Path Ahead" has been released by the U.S. Transportation Research Board (TRB). This work is the product of a 2005 workshop co-chaired by internationally-acknowledged experts Dan Mayhew, senior vice president of TIRF, and Dr. Jim McKnight, president of the Transportation Research Associates. Dan Mayhew has also contributed a chapter within the report entitled, "The Future of Driver Education." To download an electronic copy of the report, visit TRB's Web site. For more information, contact Dean Morin, Manager, Marketing & Communications, TIRF, at (613) 238-5235 or deanm@trafficinjuryresearch.com.