Inside This Issue...

The AAMVA and IRP, Inc. offices will be closed on Monday, Nov. 12 in observance of the Veteran’s Day holiday. Offices will reopen during regular business hours on Tuesday, Nov. 13. The Operations Helpdesk will be providing support on Monday. For assistance, please call (888) 226-8280 option 3 or e-mail helpdesk@aamva.org.

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance announced the availability of grants for states to develop the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS). Mandated under the Anti Car Theft Act of 1992, NMVTIS was designed to allow the titling agency to instantly and reliably verify the information on the paper title with the electronic data from the state that issued the title. In addition, the system provides law enforcement with a tool to assist in reducing auto theft and vehicle title-related crimes. Where implemented, NMVTIS has already produced results, including time and cost savings, reductions in consumer wait time, decreases in motor vehicle thefts, improved recovery rate of stolen vehicles, increased ability to identify cloned vehicles prior to title issuance and improved investigative abilities. The goal of this grant initiative is to increase the number of states currently providing data to NMVTIS and to assist states that are moving toward a fully online connectivity where data is shared real-time and instant title checks occur before a title is issued.  The closing date for applications is Jan. 10, 2008.  Full information on the grant solicitation is available on the grant resource page.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration recently made available the Dwight David Eisenhower Fellowship Program Grant. The Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship (GRAD) provides funding for the pursuit of Master’s Degrees or Doctorates in transportation related fields. The program objective is to attract qualified students to the fields of transportation education and research, and advance transportation workforce development. Read more on the FHWA Web site about eligibility requirements and access the application. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has invited AAMVA and other interested members to attend a stakeholder meeting on the evaluation of the E-Verify Program to identify program strengths and weaknesses from multiple perspectives and to assist the evaluation staff in prioritizing research topics. The E-Verify program, formerly Basic Pilot, is an online tool that allows participating employers to confirm the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees, regardless of citizenship, to help maintain a stable, legal workforce. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Washington, DC. The meeting is open to the public, but advance notice of attendance is requested to ensure adequate seating. Those planning to attend should notify Marsha Lyons at least 5 days prior to the meeting at (301) 517-4050 or by e-mail: MarshaLyons@westat.com.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announces a public listening session to obtain feedback from interested parties on the Agency’s Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010) initiative, a comprehensive review, analysis and restructuring of FMCSA’s current commercial motor carrier safety and enforcement programs. FMCSA will use the listening session to brief participants on the direction and progress of CSA 2010, and obtain feedback from its partners and stakeholders. FMCSA also requests comments on the CSA 2010 operational model. The Public Listening Session will be held on Dec. 4, 2007, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. To attend the listening session, attendees can register online. Comments regarding CSA 2010 can be filed with the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS). All submissions must include the Agency name and docket identification number. For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued notice of dates for the beginning of initial enrollment for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) for the Ports of Honolulu, HI; Baton Rouge, LA; Tacoma, WA; Beaumont, TX, and Oakland, CA. TWIC enrollment in Honolulu, Baton Rouge, and Tacoma will began on Nov. 7, 2007 and on Nov.8, 2007 in Beaumont and Oakland. You may view published documents and comments concerning the TWIC Final Rule on the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Web page. To obtain information on the pre-enrollment and enrollment process, and enrollment locations, visit TSA’s TWIC Web site at http://www.tsa.gov/twic.

On Nov. 8, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it has reduced the list of identification documents employers may accept from employees to verify employment eligibility. All employers are required to complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form, or I-9, for each employee hired in the United States. On the form, the employer must certify that the identity documents presented by the employee “appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee named,” the I-9 form says. CIS removed five documents from the list, including the Certificate of U.S. Citizenship and Certificate of Naturalization, “because they lack features to help deter counterfeiting, tampering and fraud,” and “intends to pursue rulemaking to further reduce the number of documents that employers must accept to confirm the identity and work eligibility of new hires,” CIS spokesman Bill Wright said in an e-mail to CQ Homeland Security. CIS will shortly publish a notice in the Federal Register that provides employers with a 30-day period to transition to the new form.

Arthur Albert Tritsch, Jr. of Melbourne, Florida, died Nov. 5, 2007, at age 87. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was raised in Brooklyn NY. He enlisted in the US Army in 1941 and served with the OSS in southern Europe, Panama and North Africa throughout World War II. He served in the Korean War and pursued a military career for seventeen more years. Major Tritsch was a specialist in photoreconnaissance. He was stationed in Japan; Germany; Georgia and Kansas. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. After retiring from the military, Tritsch was Director of Driver Services for AAMVA for 18 years. He was active with Mended Hearts, a cardiac support group, and volunteered with the Alexandria Police Department. He and his wife retired to Florida in 1994 where he continued work with Mended Hearts, taught in AARP’s 55-Alive senior driver program and volunteered for the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles, earning their Volunteer of the Year award in 2002. Arthur Tritsch leaves his wife of sixty-five years, Phyllis Goodman Tritsch; children Leslie Callaway of Gaithersburg MD, Geoffrey Tritsch of Concord MA and Laurie Hawes of Leesburg VA; grandchildren Holly, Celene, John and Benjamin; and great grandchildren Braden and Kennedy. He was a brave man with a wry wit and a loving heart. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Mended Hearts, Inc. National Office, 7272 Greenville Ave., Dallas TX 75231. Services will be held at Arlington National Cemetery in March 2008.

On Nov. 6 the house received a resolution (S. Res. 369) to designate Nov. 25, 2007, as “Drive Safer Sunday.” There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution. The resolution takes into consideration that motor vehicle travel is the primary means of transportation in the United States and that everyone traveling on roads and highways needs to drive more safely to reduce deaths and injuries resulting from motor vehicle accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), wearing a seat belt saved 15,434 lives in 2004, 15,632 lives in 2005, and 15,383 lives in 2006. Because the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the busiest highway traffic day of the year the resolution asks that the Senate encourages citizens to educate themselves on safe driving techniques and designates Nov. 25, 2007, as “Drive Safer Sunday.”

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims and their Families—the third Sunday of November each year—is a time to remember the millions of people killed in road traffic crashes annually worldwide and draw attention to the devastating consequences of these deaths on families and communities. The Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety, in coordination with the Association for Safe International Road Travel and Make Roads Safer—The Campaign for Global Road Safety, will host a lunch briefing in observance this special day. For more information, contact Cathy Silberman with ASIRT at (301) 983-5252 or T. Bella Dinh-Zarr with Make Roads Safe at (202) 701-5656.

On Nov. 7, the Roadway Safety Foundation (RSF) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recognized 15 local programs from 12 states across the country for excellence and innovation in operations, planning and roadway design to reduce fatalities and injuries on our nation's highways. View a full list of this year's honorees on the RSF Web site.

The National Safety Council has awarded its Distinguished Service to Safety Award to Colonel Mark V. Trostel, Chief, Colorado State Patrol. The award, presented during the National Safety Council’s 95th Annual Congress and Expo, is the highest honor bestowed on an individual safety professional by the Council in recognition of outstanding service to the field of safety. Throughout his 28-year career, Trostel made significant and outstanding contributions to safety. Under his direction, roads patrolled by the Colorado State Patrol have seen a fatality rate reduction of 34.5 percent, the largest four-year reduction in the nation from 2001-2005. Trostel’s Colorado Target Zero initiative deploys every trooper in the agency during the week of Memorial Day with an emphasis on those that have been identified as the most dangerous highways in Colorado. Since the initiative’s inception, there have been no traffic fatalities on these targeted roadways.

If you haven’t already done so, please respond to the following surveys:
 
New Jersey – Dealer Licensing and Penalties (Ends 11/10/07)
Florida – Benchmarking (Ends 11/23/2007)
Massachusetts – Identification Cards for Homeless Individuals (Ends 11/29/2007)

AAMVA is now accepting applications for its AAMVA/Nick Denice Memorial Fellowship Awards at the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University. This award is open to AAMVA members who are chief motor vehicle and law enforcement officials from the United States and Canada; AAMVA or IRP, Inc. Board of Directors members and AAMVA International Standing Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs. Read about the experience of last year's recipient, Col. Jeffrey Miller, Pennsylvania. Don't miss the application deadline of Feb. 7, 2008.