Inside This Issue...

AAMVA has posted "Model Legislation" on behalf of the Altered Height Working Group. Procedure calls for this "Model Legislation" to be posted for comment for 30 days, with a weekly reminder during that 30 days. All comments should be directed to Selden Fritschner at sfritschner@aamva.org. Once the 30-day period is past, comments will be accumulated, reviewed and forwarded to the Board of Directors for approval. See the Explanation of Opportunity on AAMVA's Web site.

Mark the dates for AAMVA's 2007 Fall Workshop ... Nov. 4-8. AAMVA will be hosting this year's workshop in sunny Glendale, Arizona at the newly constructed Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel. Program details and registration information will be posted soon. But don't delay ... save the dates today!

Take your training to a higher level! Sign up today for a course with AAMVA University. Following are upcoming courses to be held in Arlington, Virginia. Or, AAMVA University can personalize training for your jurisdictional facility. Visit www.aamva-u.org for details or to register online!

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation's (TIRF) 44th Annual General Meeting will be held May 24, 2007 from 9-11:30 am at the Bank of Montreal Building, 68th Floor, York Room, First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario. Details of the meeting will be forthcoming.

The Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee will meet on March 21, 2007 in Washington, DC from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. This meeting will be open to the public. The meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza Washington National Airport, 1480 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia. Send written material, comments, and requests to make oral presentations to Rebecca J. Richards, Executive Director, Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528. Written materials, comments, and requests to make oral presentations at the meeting should reach the contact person listed by March 16, 2007. Persons wishing to make comments or who are unable to attend or speak at the meeting may submit comments at any time. All submissions received must include the docket number: DHS-2007-0008 and may be submitted via the Federal Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.

A resolution (H. Con. Res. 87) was introduced in the House that supports the goals and ideals of a world day of remembrance for road crash victims. About 40,000 people in the United States, and 1,200,000 people globally, die in road crashes each year. Another 20,000,000 to 50,000,000 people globally are injured each year as a result of speeding motor vehicles, the increasing use of motor vehicles, and rapid urbanization. The World Health Organization has predicted that by the year 2020 the annual number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes is likely to surpass the annual number of deaths from AIDS. The resolution encourages the people of the United States to support and participate in programs and activities to commemorate a world day of remembrance for road crash victims with appropriate ceremonies, programs, and other activities. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing to establish minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards that federal agencies would accept for official purposes after May 11, 2008, in accordance with the Real ID Act of 2005. This rule proposes standards to meet the minimum requirements of the Real ID Act of 2005, including: information and security features that must be incorporated into each card; application information to establish the identity and immigration status of an applicant before a card can be issued; and physical security standards for locations where driver’s licenses and applicable identification cards are issued. Submit comments to the rule by May 8, 2007, identified by the DHS docket number DHS-2006-0030, via the Federal Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.   

The AAMVA/CarTalk partnership welcomes Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota and Vermont into primetime. There is still time for your jurisdiction to come along for the ride! In preparation for our meeting with PBS, CarTalk has asked us to identify eight core highway safety and/or ID security-related issues that we could use their help in communicating to our customers. So, even in you are not yet part of the partnership, please email your core issues to jking@aamva.org by COB Friday, March 16, 2007.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announces its plan to submit an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This information collection pertains to the requirements set forth in 49 CFR parts 391 and 398 for the following activities: (1) A medical examination form and certificate to be completed by a licensed medical examiner; (2) The submission of an application to FMCSA for the Agency to resolve conflicts of medical evaluations between medical examiners; (3) A driver qualification (DQ) file for: (a) Motor carriers to include the medical certificate; (b) motor carriers of migrant workers to include a doctor’s certificate for every driver employed or used by them; and (c) motor carriers to include a Skill Performance Evaluation (SPE) certificate issued to a driver with a limb disability; and (4) Information collected from carriers, drivers and interested parties used in Agency determinations for granting exemptions from the vision and diabetes requirements in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). The agency published a Federal Register notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on the ICR in October 2006 (71 FR 61822, Oct. 19, 2006). The agency did not receive any comments in response to this notice. Please send comments by April 5, 2007. You may submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 Seventeenth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, Attention: DOT/FMCSA Desk Officer.

The National Safe Routes to School Task Force will hold its second meeting. The purpose of the Task Force is to advise the Secretary of Transportation, through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Safety, on strategies to advance Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programs nationwide and to encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school pursuant to Section 1404(h) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). This meeting is open to the public and will have time allocated for public testimony. The public is welcome to present written or oral comments to the Task Force. The second meeting of the Task Force is scheduled for April 19, 2007, from 8:30 am-5 pm at The Holiday Inn Capitol, 550 C Street, SW., Washington, DC 20024.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will hold Sunshine Act meetings this week. During the meetings, the Unified Carrier Registration Plan Board of Directors (the Board) will continue its work in developing and implementing the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement. The Board may consider and adopt recommendations made by its Revenue and Fees Subcommittee to revise the fee scale the Board originally recommended to FMCSA and other matters that may properly come before the Board. The meetings will take place March 15, 1:00 pm-4:20 pm, EDT. Meetings are open to the public and will take place telephonically. Any interested person may call Avelino Gutierrez at (505) 827-4565 to receive the toll-free number and pass code needed to participate by telephone.

To better capture and highlight local examples of livable communities and to learn what’s going on in communities throughout the nation, AARP has developed a new interactive virtual community, AARP’s Community Exchange. A livable community is one that has affordable and appropriate housing, supportive community features and services, and adequate mobility options, which together facilitate personal independence and the engagement of residents in civic and social life. This new Web site, located at http://communityexchange.aarp.org, is for you to (1) share new ideas on how your community is working on housing and mobility issues to make your community a better place to live; (2) learn about new and exciting projects in your town and across the nation; and (3) connect with others and become part of a new online community! The goal is to provide a forum for individuals to share and learn from one another. Contact Lisa Simpson, Community Exchange Promotion Team Leader, at lsimpson@aarp.org, or Diane Hill Taylor, Director, Livable Communities/Outreach and Service, at dhill@aarp.org.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has withdrawn all prior regulatory guidance, previously in the Federal Register, as well as memoranda and letters issued by the agency, indicating that surge brakes do not meet certain provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). Elsewhere in the Federal Register, FMCSA amends the FMCSRs to allow the use of automatic hydraulic inertia brake systems (surge brakes) on trailers when the ratios of gross vehicle weight ratings for the towing-vehicle and trailer are within certain limits. For more information, contact Luke Loy, Office of Policy and Program Development, Vehicle and Roadside Operations Division, at (202) 366-0676, or luke.loy@dot.gov.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has denied a petition from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for a determination that the state may continue to require interstate motor carriers to display weight-mile tax credentials (WMTCs) in commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in Oregon. The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) prohibits states from requiring motor carriers to display in, or on, CMVs any form of identification other than forms required by the Secretary of Transportation. However, SAFETEA-LU also provides that a state may continue to require display of credentials that the Secretary determines are appropriate. ODOT requested that FMCSA determine that its WMTCs are appropriate under SAFETEA-LU. FMCSA denies ODOT’s request because it could find no evidence to support a determination that the display of the WMTCs is appropriate. Therefore, the state of Oregon may no longer require interstate motor carriers to display WMTCs. This decision is effective March 6, 2007.

A bill (S. 717) to repeal title II of the Real ID Act of 2005 and to restore section 7212 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 has been introduced in the Senate. The bill would provide states additional regulatory flexibility and funding authorization to more rapidly produce tamper- and counterfeit-resistant driver’s licenses, and to protect privacy and civil liberties by providing interested stakeholders on a negotiated rulemaking with guidance to achieve improved 21st century licenses to improve national security.

Pursuant to the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), Public Law 109-115, Aug. 10, 2005, the Secretary of Transportation is establishing a National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission. This commission will analyze future highway and transit needs and the finances of the Highway Trust Fund, and make recommendations regarding alternative approaches to financing transportation infrastructure, as directed in section 11142 of SAFETEA-LU. DOT intends to charter this Commission as a Federal Advisory Committee. For more information, contact Jack Wells, Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Transportation, at jack.wells@dot.gov.

On March 8, Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters and FMCSA Administrator John Hill made a statement to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development to discuss the Department of Transportation’s demonstration project to implement the trucking provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). They described what the department has done to implement the Murray-Shelby amendment, Section 350 of the Fiscal Year 2002 Appropriations Act, and the additional steps taken to ensure the safety and security of our transportation network. They announced that the U.S. and Mexican governments have agreed to implement a limited one-year demonstration project to authorize up to 100 Mexican trucking companies to perform long-haul international operations within the U.S, and 100 U.S. companies to do the same in Mexico for the first time. The pilot program will involve fewer than 1,000 trucks from Mexico, and these companies will be limited to transporting international freight and will not be authorized to make domestic deliveries between U.S. cities. It is also important to note in the demonstration project there will be no trucks authorized to transport hazardous materials, no bus transportation of passengers, and no authority to operate longer combination vehicles on U.S. highways. In addition to the federal safety requirements, the Mexican trucks operating in this demonstration project will be required to adhere to the same state requirements as U.S. trucks – including size and weight requirements – and pay the applicable fuel taxes and registration fees.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released testimony titled "Performance and Accountability: Transportation Challenges Facing Congress and the Department of Transportation" (GAO-07-545T). Report highlights are available on GAO's Web site.