Inside This Issue...

Pursuant to section 343(a) of the Trade Act of 2002 and implementing regulations, truck carriers and other eligible parties are required to transmit advance electronic truck cargo information to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through a CBP-approved electronic data interchange. In a previous notice, CBP designated the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Truck Manifest System as the approved interchange and announced that the requirement that advance electronic cargo information be transmitted through ACE would be phased in by groups of ports of entry. The previous notice identified the first group of ports where use of the ACE Truck Manifest System is mandated. This notice announces the second group of land border ports that will require truck carriers to file electronic manifests through the ACE Truck Manifest System. Trucks entering the United States through land border ports of entry in the states of California, Texas, and New Mexico will be required to transmit the advance information through the ACE Truck Manifest system effective April 19, 2007. For more information, contact James Swanson at james.d.swanson@dhs.gov.

Looking to get more out of your AAMVA membership? Now you can!  The AAMVA Recognition Awards are a great way to get involved in AAMVA and gain recognition for your staff and agency. These awards recognize outstanding service to the community, excellence in customer service initiatives, information technology, safety and the best in public affairs and consumer education programs. For more information regarding any of the following awards, visit AAMVA's Web site or e-mail info@aamva.org. Remember, these are your awards! Get involved and recognize the best of the best today!

• Distinguished Service Awards: AAMVA's highest awards, the AAMVA Board of Directors bestows four awards recognizing outstanding service in motor vehicle administration and law enforcement.
• Harvard Fellowships: Jointly sponsored by AAMVA and the Industry Advisory Board (IAB), the Harvard Fellowships offer chief motor vehicle and law enforcement officials an opportunity to participate in a two-week long program at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government.
• AAMVA Customer Service Excellence: The Customer Service Excellence Award recognizes individuals, teams and agencies who display exemplary service and either support, promote or provide a true quality service-driven culture or experience. 
• PACE Awards: This AAMVA-sponsored awards program recognizes public relations, public affairs and consumer education excellence among the motor vehicle, law enforcement and traffic safety agencies across North America. 
• Safety Recognition Awards: Sponsored by the AAMVA Law Enforcement Discipline, these awards recognize member jurisdiction efforts to reduce traffic fatalities.

For fiscal year 2007, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is authorized up to $1,000,000 for the Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) Operator Safety Training Grant Opportunity. CMV Operator Safety Training Grants are provided by FMCSA to train CMV operators and future drivers in the safe operation of commercial motor vehicles (CMV). This grant opportunity has two goals: To expand the number of Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holders possessing enhanced operator safety training in order to further reduce the severity and the number of crashes on U.S. roads involving CMVs, and to assist economically distressed regions of the U.S. by providing workforce training opportunity for qualified individuals to become CMV operators. The closing date for applications is April 20, 2007.

Section 1117 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) provides funding for the Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) Program. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is seeking comments on the information collection (Docket number FHWA-2007-26825) by Feb. 21, 2007. Comments may be submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention DOT Desk Officer. The TCSP Program is a comprehensive initiative of research and grants to investigate the relationships between transportation, community, and system preservation plans and practices and identify sector-based initiatives to improve such relationships. States, metropolitan planning organizations, local governments, and tribal governments are eligible for discretionary grants to carry out eligible projects to integrate transportation, community, and system preservation plans and practices. The TCSP Program is a discretionary program. However, beginning in FY 2000, the projects awarded TCSP Program funding have been designated by Congress.

The synopsis grant for the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program (GAMTTEP) has been modified. The purpose of the GAMTTEP (funding opportunity number DTFH61-07-RA-00108) is to improve the preparation of students, particularly women and minorities, in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through curriculum development and other activities related to transportation. Applications are due by March 5, 2007. For more information, see the Grants.gov Web site. 

In May 2006, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced its National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America’s Transportation Network (the Congestion Initiative), a bold and comprehensive national program to reduce congestion on the nation’s roads, rails, runways, and waterways. The purpose of this notice is to announce an upcoming solicitation for applications from metropolitan areas under the Intelligent Transportation Systems Operational Testing to Mitigate Congestion (ITS-OTMC) Program for funding the operational testing of innovative congestion-reducing technologies. The overall objective of the ITS-OTMC Program is to facilitate, in connection with the Congestion Initiative, the operational testing and evaluation of innovative and aggressive congestion reduction strategies incorporating ITS systems that can demonstrate measurable reductions in congestion levels in the deployment areas. DOT is seeking applications for the operational testing and evaluation of innovative uses of technology to address congestion on a specific facility or facilities, such as a corridor, an urban area or region. Accordingly, qualifying projects must be expected to directly result in significant, broad, and near-term congestion relief. Project applications should demonstrate that proposed strategies will be implemented and ready for testing in a relatively short time frame (e.g., within 12 to 18 months from the date of award). DOT may provide successful jurisdictions up to $100 million over three years through the ITS-OTMC Program in support of innovative technology-based strategies to reduce congestion.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposes to amend the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to incorporate new performance standards for electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) installed in commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) manufactured on or after the date two years following the effective date of a final rule. On-board hours-of-service recording devices meeting FMCSA’s current requirements and voluntarily installed in CMVs manufactured before the implementation date of a final rule may continue to be used for the remainder of the service life of those CMVs. Under the proposal, motor carriers that have demonstrated a history of serious noncompliance with the hours-of-service (HOS) rules would be subject to mandatory installation of EOBRs meeting the new performance standards. If FMCSA determined, based on HOS records reviewed during each of two compliance reviews conducted within a two-year period, that a motor carrier had a 10 percent or greater violation rate (“pattern violation”) for any regulation in proposed Appendix C to Part 385, FMCSA would issue the carrier an EOBR remedial directive. The motor carrier would be required to install EOBRs in all of its CMVs regardless of their date of manufacture and to use the devices for HOS recordkeeping for a period of two years, unless the carrier already had equipped its vehicles with automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs) meeting the Agency’s current requirements under 49 CFR 395.15 and could demonstrate to FMCSA that its drivers understand how to use the devices. Comments must be received by April 18, 2007 and be submitted at http://dms.dot.gov or http://www.regulations.gov.

On Aug. 18, 2005, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the certification regulation requiring that, in addition to the vehicle identification number (VIN), a suffix that identified attributes about the bus body be recorded on the certification label of each bus manufactured in two or more stages. The NPRM also proposed a new regulation to require manufacturers of buses manufactured in two or more stages to obtain a manufacturer’s identifier and submit information to NHTSA about the bus bodies manufactured. NHTSA has identified an alternative approach to obtain accurate bus accident data for analysis and safety improvement that it believes is more efficient and less burdensome. Therefore, NHTSA is terminating this rulemaking. For more information on non-legal issues, contact Charles Hott, Office of Crashworthiness Standards, at (202) 366-0247. For legal issues, contact Edward Glancy, Office of Chief Counsel, at (202) 366-2992.

AAMVA has developed a unique public affairs opportunity for member jurisdictions by partnering with CarTalk, featuring Click and Clack. The credibility and following of these two dynamic personalities is unmatched and can be of great benefit to your jurisdiction. Pre-production on the show is underway! And PBS and CarTalk must know which jurisdictions are going with them into prime-time. By now you have received the draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) that your organization will need to sign by Jan. 31, 2007. This agreement can be tweaked to meet your individual jurisdictional needs. For those jurisdictions that display the logos of CarTalk TV's corporate underwriters as outlined in the MOU, you will receive the added benefit of planned Public Service Spots in your market. This media buy includes the scheduled airing of a 15-second CarTalk/Real ID educational spot on major networks: ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. The magnitude of this buy will be determined based on underwriter support. Also, for those jurisdictions displaying the underwriters' logos, you will receive an additional benefit and public relations opportunity with planned national outreach programs in your jurisdictions tied in with your local PBS station. These may include a visit by the CarTalk tour bus to DMV parking lots catering to all drivers with information, events, games and giveaways. If you have not already done so, assign a contact person to this opportunity and have them contact Jason King at jking@aamva.org or (703) 908-8287. Let your jurisdiction ride along into prime-time with "Click and Clack" on CarTalk TV!

It's time for the 2007 AAMVA PACE Awards! This AAMVA-sponsored awards program recognizes public relations, public affairs and consumer education excellence among the motor vehicle, law enforcement and traffic safety agencies across North America. The competition is open only to all AAMVA jurisdictional members in good standing. As a member benefit, there is no entry fee for this competition. Entries for the 2007 awards must have been produced between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2006. No entry may be submitted for judging in more than one subcategory. No more than one entry per subcategory, per agency. Begin preparing your entries and work plans for the Feb. 19, 2007 deadline today by visiting the AAMVA Web site. For more information, contact AAMVA's Jason D. King at jking@aamva.org or (703) 908-8287.

The Legal Services Discipline has extended the Call for Topics until Jan. 30, 2007! Now is your chance to submit topics for AAMVA's 2007 Law Institute to be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Aug. 4-8, 2007. The Legal Services Discipline wants your suggestions for potential presentations. Submit your ideas for session topics and/or speakers to AAMVA by Jan. 30, 2007. Hotel rooms are $91 per night and the registration is $550 for members and $650 for nonmembers. Breakfast will not be included, however, lunch is provided on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We look forward to seeing you at next year’s Law Institute. If you would like to help plan the law institute, find speakers and select the topics, forward your name to the Legal Services Discipline at pwalker@aamva.org by Jan. 30, 2007.

We are looking for the best photo that depicts the theme for each issue of MOVE. The selected photo will be used on the cover and viewed by thousands of readers! Pull out those cameras and brush up on those skills! Be sure to review the submission guidelines and release form. Make note of the upcoming themes and deadlines for submission. The deadline for summer 2007 is March 12 and the theme if "Foundations for Building Better Service." E-mail move@aamva.org with questions...and good luck!

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a final rule clearing the way for deployment of a new biometric identification card for port workers. Cards will be issued beginning in March, but ports will not be required to have card readers installed until an unspecified future date. The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program upgrades security in ports and on maritime vessels by checking workers’ backgrounds before they are given access. These credentials will be issued to more than 750,000 port employees, longshoremen, mariners, truckers and other individuals who require unsupervised access at ports. Though cardholding workers will not be required to use the cards in conjunction with any card readers during the initial TWIC rollout period, workers will be required to present TWIC cards to authorized personnel. The new rule requires applicants to undergo a background check that involves cross referencing personal information and fingerprints to check criminal records, terrorist watch lists, immigration status and outstanding warrants. The rule also sets standards for the cards, which must contain a computer chip holding a complete set of the holder’s fingerprints, and feature the holder’s photograph and name, an expiration date, a serial number, a unique identifier and a PIN number. TWIC cards will be valid for five years and will cost between $139 and $159.

The purpose of the FY 2007 Trucking Security Program is to continue the Highway Watch® Program as a sustainable national program to enhance security and overall preparedness on our nation’s highways. An estimated $11,640,000 is available in program funding. The closing date for applications is March 6, 2007. Applicants are advised to carefully review the submission requirements contained in the Application Checklist within the FY 2007 Trucking Security Program Guidance and Application Kit.