Inside This Issue...

On Oct. 31, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved various measures to address failing bridges, contaminated beaches, buses that are not handicap accessible and children’s needs in the wake of disasters. It also approved measures to authorize funds for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and to rename the Capitol Visitor Center’s Great Hall. A measure regarding bridge repair would authorize $2 billion for reconstruction of bridges throughout the country. It would also require the Federal Highway Administration to immediately update national bridge inspection standards and intensify training and certification of highway bridge inspectors. The bill also would require all structurally deficient bridges to be inspected every year, and all other bridges to be inspected every two years. It would require deficient bridges be evaluated and prioritized by risk. Under another measure approved by the panel, all buses would be required to be accessible to people with disabilities, prohibiting the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from granting registration to bus companies that do not meet Americans with Disability Act (ADA) requirements. It would allow the Transportation secretary to suspend, amend or revoke a motor carrier’s registration if it fails to comply with the ADA. The bill eliminates any question of the agency’s authority, supporters explained. It would also require the departments of Transportation and Justice to coordinate enforcement roles.

On Oct. 23, nine U.S. Senators from both parties sent a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to support the inclusion of a $50 million installment in dedicated funds for the current Fiscal Year in order to set up the infrastructure to help states implement the Real ID Act. The signers wrote, "By protecting the $50 million provided in the House language, this Conference has the ability to ensure that Real ID can take necessary first steps toward implementation." The letter was addressed to Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-West Virginia) as Chairman and to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) as Ranking Member of the Committee. Signers to the letter so far include Senators George Voinovich (R-Ohio), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Chuck Schumer (D-New York), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), Dianne Feinstein (D-California), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), John Warner (R-Virginia), and Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pennsylvania).

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released guidelines for implementing a selective traffic enforcement program (STEP) to reduce unsafe driving behaviors among drivers of commercial and passenger motor vehicles. The guidelines draw on examples and lessons learned from the successful high-visibility enforcement campaign known as TACT (ticketing aggressive cars and trucks), which was developed in Washington State. Read the full guidelines.

The Government Accountability Office offered a report on recent testimony on drug testing laws. The report showed that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) faces two key challenges in ensuring that commercial motor carriers have drug testing programs in place: overseeing and enforcing compliance with drug testing regulations and ensuring the integrity of the drug tests and the processes for keeping drivers with identified drug problems off the roads. GAO identified various options to address these challenges, some of which were proposed by carriers, industry associations, DOT, and others. These options include publicizing educational information about the regulations for carriers, service agents, and drivers; encouraging carriers to do more to ensure service agent compliance; improving and expanding FMCSA oversight and enforcement authority; adopting federal legislation to prohibit products designed to tamper with a drug test; and developing a national reporting requirement for past positive drug test results. Read the full report.

On Oct. 29 Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that Elaine C. Duke has been appointed the department’s first deputy undersecretary for management. Duke, who has been serving as the department’s chief procurement officer since January 2006, will take over day-to-day operations of the DHS Management Directorate for Undersecretary Paul A. Schneider. Schneider began working a second position within DHS, as acting deputy secretary. Duke’s duties include managing the department’s budget, appropriations, expenditure of funds, procurement, human resources, information technology systems, and facilities and property management. Duke has been at the department since its creation in 2003, first as deputy assistant administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, then as deputy chief procurement officer from October 2004 until her promotion to chief procurement officer.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) will conduct a Webinar on Nov. 13, 2007, 2:00pm – 3:30pm that will explore solutions to the multidisciplinary challenges associated with addressing transportation safety. Participants must register at least 24 hours in advance of the start of the Webinar, space is limited, and there is a fee for non-TRB Sponsor employees. The “Institutional Needs in Safety Planning” Webinar will address challenges in addressing transportation safety by detailing the organizational structures and collaboration strategies that promote safety integration in the planning process. Drawing upon a National Cooperative Highway Research Program project that included a literature review, focus groups, a survey of safety engineers and practitioners, and six state case studies, the Webinar will detail what it takes to successfully unite agencies and leaders in planning for safety improvements. Register now!

"This side of paradise" ... Asked to write a blog about AAMVA, I felt obliged to find a noteworthy title. Being a Minnesotan, I decided to borrow from
Fitzgerald and surprisingly found just what I was looking for. Read the entire blog.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a report that explores NHTSA's Click It or Ticket high-visibility seat belt enforcement mobilization in May 2005. The report highlights seat belt enforcement activities and the use of paid and earned media that focused on seat belt enforcement. This report also examines the impact of these efforts on the seat belt use rate and includes case study evaluations for three separate NHTSA regions where demonstration programs to increase seat belt use occurred. Read the full report online. 

The next AAMVA CIO Outreach conference call is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 19, 2007, from 4:00–5:00 pm EST. These meetings address IT issues that are relevant to the CIOs of the DMVs (in both the United States and Canada) and concerns that are relevant to their day-to-day jobs. A copy of the draft agendas and minutes from previous meetings is available online. The conference call telephone number and conference ID can be found at the top of the agenda. Send requests for future agenda topics to Greg Sensiba, gsensiba@aamva.org, (703) 908-2822.

If you haven’t already done so, please respond to the following surveys:
 
Utah – Drive Test Vehicles (Ends 11/16/2007)
Alabama – Title Examination (Ends 11/16/2007)

The majority of the almost 600 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) relating to MCSIA have been incorporated into the latest release of the AAMVA CDLIS documentation (release 4.1.0). AAMVA is creating a new set of CDLIS FAQs to address questions not covered in the documentation. The CDLIS FAQs will be posted to the AAMVA Web site on Nov. 7, 2007. Starting on this date, access to the old MCSIA FAQs will be restricted to AAMVA staff only for historical purposes. Users who attempt access to the old MCSIA FAQs (http://www.aamva.org/TechServices/AppServ/CDLIS/MCSIA/FAQs/default.htm) will receive the message ‘Access Denied’. The CDLIS FAQs will be located at http://www.aamva.org/TechServices/AppServ/CDLIS/FAQs/default.htm (from the AAMVA Web site, the path to the FAQs will be ‘Technology Services’  ‘CDLIS’  ‘CDLIS FAQs’). If anyone has trouble accessing the CDLIS FAQs, contact Greg Sensiba, gsensiba@aamva.org, (703) 908-2822, or Bill Roddy, broddy@aamva.org, (703) 908-5775.

AAMVA is interested in finding well-qualified individuals to fill key positions within the AAMVA Systems Analysis Department, Technology Division. The ideal candidate will have an in-depth knowledge of the motor vehicle agency community and an understanding of the AAMVA technical environment, including exposure to one or more MVA applications such as CDLIS, PDPS and/or NMVTIS. The individual must be capable of performing the business and technical analysis required to develop system specifications, procedure manuals and implementation guides in support of various AAMVA systems and solutions, and will be be required to work with jurisdictions, AAMVA committees, federal agencies and other stakeholders to translate functional requirements into the above-mentioned documents. Strong communication skills are required. If you are or some you know is interested in learning more about these positions, contact Nancy Carlson at ncarlson@aamva.org.

Learn more about My AAMVA and how you can log in or register on the AAMVA Web site! My AAMVA gives you access to your contact information in the AAMVA membership system and allows you to update your preferences. My AAMVA also allows you to determine what you would like to see printed in the member-only online directory ... coming in February 2008! Visit My AAMVA today!