Inside This Issue...

The Senate has introduced two bills, S. 238 and S. 239, which deal with security issues and breaches. S. 238 would amend title 18, U.S. Code, to limit the misuse of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and to establish criminal penalties for such misuse. The Social Security Number Misuse Prevention Act would stop the sale or display of a person’s SSN without his/her express consent; prevent federal, state and local governments from displaying SSNs on public records posted on the Internet; end the printing of SSNs on government checks; prohibit the employing of inmates for tasks that give them access to the SSNs of other individuals; limit the circumstances in which businesses could ask a customer for his/her SSN; commission a study of the current uses of SSNs and the impact on privacy and data security; and institute criminal and civil penalties for misuse of SSNs.

S. 239 would require federal agencies, and persons engaged in interstate commerce, in possession of data containing sensitive personally identifiable information, to disclose any breach of such information. The Notification of Risk to Personal Data Act would require that the federal government and business entities (including motor vehicle agencies) notify individuals when there has been a security breach involving their personal data; ensure the notice is provided without unreasonable delay; create very limited exceptions to notification for national security and law enforcement purposes, as well as instances in which law enforcement certifies there is no threat of harm to the individual; provide civil remedies against those who do not notify individuals and the provisions of the bill would be enforced by state attorney generals; and pre-empt all state laws so there is a single, nationwide notification requirement.

Don't miss the chance to enhance your agency's fraud detection and customer service skills.  AAMVA University is hosting a variety of courses at AAMVA Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia (minimum 10 registrations required). Register online at www.aamva-u.org OR arrange for training to be held at your jurisdiction's training facility. For more information, contact Linda Honig at (866) 908-8270 or lhonig@aamva.org.

Fraudulent Document Recognition (FDR) 

NEW CLASS ... March 5-8, 2007: FDR Level II (4-day/includes Levels I & II); $650; Cut-off Feb. 16
April 16-20: FDR Instructor Certification (5-day); Prerequisite: FDR Level II; $750; Cut-off March 30
 
Vehicle Document Examiner Certification (VDEC) 
 
March 26-29: VDEC Instructor Certification (4-day); Prerequisite: VDEC 2-day; $650 per person; Cut-off March 9
 
Working With Customers (WWC)
 
April 2-5 (4 days); $650 per person; Cut-off March 16

In May 2006, AAMVA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) formed a technical working group to revise two guideline documents designed to assist motor vehicle administrators with motorcycle licensing practices: The Motorcycle Operator Licensing System; and Integrating Motorcycle Rider Education and Licensing. The two documents will be revised and combined as a single guideline document.  AAMVA will deliver the revised document to NHTSA in May 2007.  It is anticipated the revised document will be ready for distribution in summer 2007. AAMVA plans to present the guideline document at the 2007 AAMVA Regional and Annual Conferences. The revised motorcycle licensing guideline document will be a valuable resource to assist motor vehicle administrators with the implementation of highway safety countermeasures to reduce motorcycle rider fatalities and injuries through improved motorcycle licensing practices.    

The 2005 Certified Commercial Examiner (CCE) Instructors Guide is now available for release. The guide supports the “2005 CDL Testing System” and provides the unit lesson plans, skill activity lesson plans, and the instructor visuals for teaching the eight units of the Certified Commercial Examiner Training Program. The intent of the guide is to enhance the quality and effectiveness of a jurisdiction's examiner training program and ensure a beneficial learning experience. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, contact Denise Hanchulak at (703) 908-5767 or dhanchulak@aamva.org. Jurisdictions utilizing the “2.0 CDL Testing System” should continue to use the original CCE Instructors Guide published in 1997. AAMVA, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) continue to encourage jurisdictions to provide structured initial and refresher training for their jurisdiction and third-party CDL examiners to assist in providing uniform administration of CDL tests, reducing CDL fraud and to increase CDL examiner professionalism. Participation in the AAMVA Certified Commercial Examiner Program is a means to accomplishing these goals. For more information about the certification program, contact Denise Hanchulak.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has forwarded a request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval of a new information collection. A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period was published on this information collection on Nov. 21, 2006. The collection is titled "Annual Reporting for the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program." Section 1808 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users of 2005 (SAFETEA-LU) calls for an identification and analysis of a representative sample of CMAQ projects and the development and population of a database that describes the impacts of the program both on traffic congestion levels and air quality. To establish and maintain this database, the FHWA is requesting states to submit annual reports on their CMAQ investments that cover projected air quality benefits, financial information, a brief description of projects, and several other factors outlined in the Interim Program Guidance for the CMAQ program. States are requested to provide the end of year summary reports via the automated system provided through FHWA by the first day of February of each year, covering the prior federal fiscal year. Please submit comments by March 1, 2007. You may send comments within 30 days to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention DOT Desk Officer. All comments should include the Docket number FHWA-2007-27038.

The Senate has introduced S. 330, a bill to authorize secure borders and comprehensive immigration reform, to the Committee on the Judiciary.This major immigration reform predicates any reform of immigration that grants legal status to someone in the United States illegally to be noneffective until the U.S. has first closed the doors to the south and to the north. It provides for all the security measures the Senate passed last year—2,500 new port-of-entry inspectors, 14,000 border inspectors, trained and ready to deploy, $454 million for unmanned aerial vehicles to provide the 24/7 eyes in the sky essential to enforcement on our border, authorization and ultimate appropriation for those barriers and those fences and those roads that are necessary for agents to patrol, 20,000 beds for detention, to end the practice of cash and release. Among other stipulations, the bill would allow for state driver's licenses to be used under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

Debra A. Hillmer, AAMVA Chair of the Board and Director, South Dakota Division of Motor Vehicles, announces that Mike Calvin has been named Interim President and CEO of AAMVA, effective Feb. 1, 2007. Calvin will serve the organization in this capacity until the search for a new President and CEO is completed. With more than 20 years of service to AAMVA, Calvin has held a number of senior management positions, including most recently that of Deputy CEO.

On Jan. 29, 2007, the House Democrats passed a continuing resolution to keep the government running until the end of September, despite Republican attempts to force the bill back to committee. The $463.5 billion bill provides money in lieu of the nine appropriations bills for the 2007 fiscal year that were not enacted by the 109th Congress. Without any action, funding of the federal government would expire on Feb. 15. The resolution keeps funding levels at much the same level as in the 2006 fiscal year, but allows individual adjustments within the spending bill.

Deputy Secretary Maria Cino announced that she will step down from her position at the Department of Transportation March 2, 2007. Cino served as the department’s chief operating officer, responsible for the day-to-day management of DOT’s budget, administration and approximately 60,000 employees. Deputy Secretary Cino was nominated by President Bush on April 6, 2005, and confirmed by the Senate in May 2005. Following the resignation of Norman Mineta, she served as the Acting Secretary of Transportation until Mary Peters was sworn in as the new Secretary of Transportation.

 

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) intends to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve a new information collection required by the Commercial Driver’s License Program Improvements (CDLPI) and the Commercial Driver’s License Information System Modernization grant programs. That information consists of grant application preparation and quarterly reports. The CDLPI grant program also requires states to conduct a self-assessment of their Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) programs. Comments must be received by April 2, 2007. 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, or submit electronically at http://dms.dot.gov/submit. Include docket number FMCSA-2006-24843 on your comment.

On Feb. 5, President Bush sent the fiscal 2008 budget proposal to Congress. The $2.9 trillion budget proposal includes significant policy changes to restrain Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement spending as part of a plan to balance the federal budget by fiscal 2012. It includes $929.8 billion in discretionary spending, up $57 billion or 6.5 percent. All but $3.6 billion of the overall discretionary spending increase would go to security-related programs, resulting in a near-freeze on domestic spending. The budget includes $67 billion for 2008 to finance key transportation construction, congestion relief and safety programs, and to provide the framework for reforming the aviation system. The budget also includes a record $42 billion for highway construction and safety programs, and proposes overall transportation safety funding of $20.3 billion.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) selected the Corridors of the Future national congestion relief effort to reduce congestion on the nation's busiest highways. The department is advancing 14 of 38 proposals located on eight major transportation corridors including: I-95 between Florida and Maine; I-15 in southern California and Nevada; I-80/94 and I-90 linking Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan; I-5 in California, Washington and Oregon; I-70 from Missouri to Ohio; I-69 from Texas to Michigan; I-80 in Nevada and California; and I-10 from California to Florida. The proposals include various combinations of expanded highway capacity, truck-only lanes, increased freight and passenger rail development, and extensive use of innovative technologies to keep traffic moving and improve overall safety. The 14 projects were selected based on the potential of each to reduce congestion on the eight corridors of national and regional significance using innovative financing and project delivery techniques.The department will select up to five Corridors of the Future in the summer of 2007. The Corridors of the Future program is one element of DOT’s six-point National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America’s Transportation Network launched in May 2006. 

The purpose of the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program (GAMTTEP) 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. Eligible applicants are local educational agencies (LEAs) and state educational agencies (SEAs), which may enter into a partnership agreement with institutions of higher education, businesses, or other entities. Closing date for applications is March 5, 2007.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety commissioned a team led by Paul Fischbeck at Carnegie Mellon University to develop TrafficSTATS™ (interactive web-based risk assessment calculator). This user-friendly tool allows one to calculate frequency counts and a variety of risk estimates based on the NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). TrafficSTATS allows a variety of users to explore the relative risks across transportation modes, demographic variables, vehicle types, and environmental characteristics. To access TrafficSTATS, visit www.aaafoundation.org/TrafficSTATS. Additional enhancements in TrafficSTATS are planned; feel free to submit feedback on this version.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has amended the list of devices that conform to the Model Specifications for Screening Devices to Measure Alcohol in Bodily Fluids, effective Jan. 31, 2007. On Aug. 2, 1994, NHTSA published these Model Specifications for Screening Devices to Measure Alcohol in Bodily Fluids (59 FR 39382). These specifications established performance criteria and methods for testing alcohol screening devices to measure alcohol content. The specifications support state laws that target youthful offenders (e.g., “zero tolerance” laws) and the Department of Transportation’s workplace alcohol testing program. NHTSA published its first Conforming Products List (CPL) for screening devices on Dec. 2, 1994, identifying the devices that meet NHTSA’s Model Specifications for Screening Devices to Measure Alcohol in Bodily Fluids. Since the publication of the last CPL, NHTSA has evaluated additional devices at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (VNTSC) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, resulting in the addition of three new breath alcohol screening devices to the CPL.