Inside This Issue...

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recently voted to adopt a glossary that provides a translation of key election terms from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English. The glossary is available at www.eac.gov and EAC will distribute copies to jurisdictions throughout the nation. The Glossary of Key Election Terminology contains 1,843 terms and phrases used in the administration of elections in the United States. To ensure the translations were culturally and linguistically appropriate, terms were translated and reviewed by a multi-dialect team of translators representing four of the main regions of origin of the Hispanic population living in the U.S. The update of the glossary is the first project released under EAC's Language Accessibility Program, which consists of working groups comprised of local election officials, Congressional staff, national advocacy groups, and research and public policy organizations to advise the commission how to best meet language accessibility requirements. Future activities include translating the glossary and the national voter registration form in five Asian languages and the formation of working groups to address the election needs of American Indians and Alaskan natives.

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the availability of $29.1 million as a part of the 2007 Competitive Training Grant Program (CTGP). This program awards funds to competitively selected applicants to develop and deliver innovative training programs for high priority national homeland security training needs. Eligible applicants are state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, national associations, higher education institutions, non-profit organizations, and private sector businesses. CTGP provides funds to support training initiatives that are national in scope and further the department's mission of preparing the nation to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from catastrophic events. The emphasis this fiscal year is on the development and delivery of courses in one of the following five focus areas: Public communications, Executive leadership of homeland security programs, Intergovernmental coordination and planning, Managing homeland security risks, and Legal issues in preparation, response, and recovery. Eligible entities must apply for funding through the Grants.gov portal, no later than 11:59 pm EDT on May 4. Registering with Grants.gov is a one-time process, but first time registration could take 3-5 business days to validate, confirm, and receive a user name and password.

The first United Nations Global Road Safety Week takes place April 23-29, 2007 and will focus on "young road users." Young people constitute a major group at risk of death, injury and disability on the road. During Global World Safety Week, local, national and international events will be hosted all over the world. Many partners will participate in these events, including governments, United Nations (UN) agencies, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector. To highlight the event, AAMVA's Jason King interviews NHTSA's Marilena Amoni regarding the significance of Global Road Safety Week and efforts to improve the safety of teen drivers. Download the podcast entitled "Chatting With Federal Partners - NHTSA" on AAMVA's "Boulevard 27." For more information about this UN safety campaign, visit http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/en/, where you'll also find a list of Global Road Safety Week activities in the United States, Canada and elsewhere.

Continuing a series of recently released reports, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has released its Aggressive Driving Transportation Review . In 2006, 11 states passed aggressive driving legislation. The report details every state with an aggressive driving statute and how states are addressing aggressive driving as a traffic safety issue.

The AAMVA Vehicle Committee has recently approved a DRAFT of proposed amendments to the AAMVA Model Law on Low Speed Vehicles. The changes were proposed by the AAMVA Low Speed Vehicle Working Group, primarily in response to changes in the U.S. government definition of a low speed vehicle. The DRAFT is available on the AAMVA Web site at http://tinyurl.com/233mxe.  The AAMVA Vehicle Committee is asking that you review the proposed changes and provide any comments or questions to kkiser@aamva.org no later than May 25, 2007.  The Working Group will review all comments and present any needed changes  to the Vehicle Committee for review. The revised final draft will be presented to the AAMVA Board of Directors in August 2007 for review and approval. As you review the DRAFT, note that old language being deleted is overstruck and new language being added is underscored.  The proposed changes in Section 1.1 are the result of the definition change adopted by the U.S. federal government. The proposed changes in Section 1.2 and Section 1.4 are proposed to add clarity to the Model Law.

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In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announces its plan to submit the new Information Collection Request (ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This information collection involves the assessment of FMCSA’s strategic decision to integrate its Information Technology (IT) with its business processes using portal technology to consolidate its systems and databases and launch a modernization initiative to create the FMCSA COMPASS Portal. The information to be collected will be used to assess the satisfaction of federal, state and industry customers with the FMCSA COMPASS Portal. The agency published a Federal Register notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on the ICR in October 2006 (71 FR 61824, Oct. 19, 2006). The agency did not receive any comments from the public that were responsive to this notice. Please send your comments by May 21, 2007. They may be submitted 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.

Since May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed a Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month Planner that includes marketing ideas and earned media tools. The materials all carry the tagline "Share the Road with Motorcycles" to remind drivers to be cognizant of motorcycle riders during the busier riding season-- and every other time. The planner also includes information to remind motorcyclists that they must always follow the rules of the road, be alert to other drivers, and should always wear protective gear.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is reopening until May 21, 2007 the comment period on its Dec. 21, 2006 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) concerning inspection, repair and maintenance responsibilities for intermodal equipment providers and motor carriers operating container chassis. The FMCSA is also announcing a series of public listening sessions to obtain additional feedback on the agency’s NPRM from motor carriers, representatives of the intermodal transportation industry, and interested parties. The listening sessions are intended to provide all interested parties an opportunity to respond to the issues associated with this rulemaking. All oral comments will be transcribed and placed in the public docket identified at the beginning of this notice. Your comments must be submitted to the docket on or before May 21, 2007. Listening sessions will be held April 27, 2007 from 10 am to 4:30 pm in Norfolk, VA; May 3, 2007 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm in Port Newark, NJ; and May 18, 2007 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm in Long Beach, CA.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is extending through June 22, 2007 the period for interested persons to submit comments to its proposed rule to amend its Americans with Disabilities Act regulations concerning passenger vessels. Comments should be submitted by June 22, 2007. Late-filed comments will be considered to the extent practicable. You may submit comments identified by the docket number OST 2007-26829 at http://dms.dot.gov or the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.

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 document, CBP designated the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Truck Manifest System as the approved interchange and announced the requirement that advance electronic cargo information be transmitted through ACE would be phased in by groups of ports of entry. CBP recently published a final rule stipulating that at all land border ports in Vermont and New Hampshire and at the land border ports in North Dakota, in which ACE has not yet been required, truck carriers will be required to file electronic manifests through the ACE Truck Manifest System, effective July 12, 2007.

The Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) expert panel held its first meeting April 11-13, 2007, and has scheduled its next meeting for October 2007. A public meeting at the July 2007 Traffic Records Forum in St. Louis will offer traffic safety professionals an opportunity to provide their input on the next edition of the MMUCC Guidelines. The goal is to publish the third edition of MMUCC as early as possible in 2008.  AAMVA's Lt. Col. Mike Tooley, Montana State Highway Patrol, serves as a member of this working group. For more information on this effort, visit the MMUCC Web site at http://www.mmucc.us/.