Inside This Issue...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) compliance review process for motor carriers. GAO states that FMCSA does a good job of identifying carriers that pose high crash risks for subsequent compliance reviews, ensuring the thoroughness and consistency of those reviews, and following up with high-risk carriers. FMCSA’s policy for prioritizing compliance reviews targets many high-risk carriers but not other higher risk ones. The agency promotes thoroughness and consistency in its compliance reviews through its management processes, which meet GAO’s standards for internal controls. Its investigators also use an information system to document their compliance reviews to ensure thoroughness and consistency between investigators. GAO found that while FMCSA follows up with many carriers with serious safety violations, the agency (1) does not assess maximum fines against carriers with a pattern of varied serious violations as GAO believes the law requires and (2) assesses maximum fines against carriers for the third instance of a violation, whereas GAO reads the statute as requiring FMCSA to assess the maximum fine for the second. GAO is making several recommendations, including that FMCSA (1) select certain high-risk carriers in the accident safety evaluation area for compliance reviews and (2) revise its policy for assessing maximum fines. The Department of Transportation said that it would assess the efficacy of the first recommendation, but it did not comment on the other recommendations. View the entire report online at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-584.

Pennsylvania has successfully completed structured testing of the Digital Image Access and Exchange Program. Pennsylvania migrated their new functionality into production on Sept. 9, 2007 and can now exchange driver's license photos, in a production environment, with Arizona, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Kentucky. Several other states are currently at various phases of the implementation cycle. Funding for the Digital Image Exchange is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and will be available through November 2008. For information on the Digital Image Project, contact AAMVA's Paul Blanchard via e-mail, or at (703) 908-5780. Congratulations to Pennsylvania for a job well done!

On Sept. 12, the Senate voted 74-24 to adopt an amendment barring implementation of a controversial Transportation Department pilot program allowing up to 100 Mexican trucking companies to operate in the United States beyond a 25-mile radius of the border. The amendment to the $104.6 billion fiscal 2008 Transportation-Housing spending bill (HR 3074) is similar to one adopted by the House.

On Sept. 12, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced the conclusion of a pilot program in the state of Missouri that will help the TSA continue to assess and improve the security status of the nation's highway and motor carrier systems. TSA conducted a 12-month Corporate Security Review (CSR) to gather information on security practices, identify threats and vulnerabilities, and promote awareness among motor carriers. In the voluntary review of security practices, TSA trained 40 Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) investigators to conduct CSR interviews, in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department of Transportation, MoDOT, and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). After reviewing the CSR results, TSA is enhancing training materials, developing security related brochures and security measures, as well as standards in line with smaller carriers' budget and time constraints. TSA is working with CVSA and FMCSA to bring additional states onboard to collect security practice data from HAZMAT motor carriers. View the press release online for more details.

On Sept. 12, 2007, the Senate passed the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (Transportation-HUD) Spending Bill by a vote of 88-7. The legislation (HR 3074) will now go to conference with the House, which passed its version July 24. The House bill will provide overall spending levels of $104.4 billion, and the Senate version would provide spending levels of $104.6 billion. Each version is about $4 billion more than the White House requested, prompting a veto threat from President Bush.

The House Committee on Appropriations and Subcommittee on Homeland Security have requested the Director, Surveys and Investigations (S&I) to review the Department of Homeland Security’s plans to implement the Real ID Act, specifically the issuance of driver's licenses and identification cards and minimum standards required for federal recognition. The S&I team is developing a standard data request, to which they will ask each jurisdiction to respond, and would like to visit a number of state departments of motor vehicles/driver's license issuing agencies between Sept. 24 and Oct. 26. During the week of Sept. 17, team members will contact those states they wish to visit to arrange dates and times. The Committee is specifically interested in cost estimates, implementation of Real ID systems, database security, funding issues, and verification systems.

The final rule on Work Zone Safety and Mobility was published in the Federal Register (69 FR 54562) on Sept. 9, 2004 with an effective date of Oct. 12, 2007. The purpose of the update is to address the changing times of more traffic, more congestion, greater safety issues, and more work zones. The changes to the regulation will facilitate comprehensive consideration of the broader safety and mobility impacts of work zones across project development, and the implementation of appropriate strategies that help manage these impacts during project delivery. The new provisions in this work zone rule are intended to help State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) meet current and future work zone safety and mobility challenges, and serve the needs of the American people. View the Federal Register notice on FHWA's Web site at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/wzsfr.htm.

On Sept. 10, the Senate voted 60-33 to adopt an amendment shifting an additional $1 billion in grants to states for bridge repairs in fiscal 2008. The amendment to the $104.6 billion fiscal 2008 Transportation-Housing spending bill (HR 3074) would accomplish this by essentially raising the amount of money states can obligate from the Highway Trust Fund. The bill itself passed on Sept. 12 by a vote of 88-7.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to delay by several months the date by which states must request a proposed deadline extension for meeting new driver’s license (DL) requirements. In March, DHS issued a proposed rule regarding implementation of new nationally uniform DLs required by the Real ID Act (PL 109-13). In the rule, the department said it would extend until Dec. 31, 2009, the law’s May 11, 2008, deadline if requested by a state by Oct. 1, 2007.

At a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Sept. 10, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that the October deadline has been pushed back, stating that the actual deadline for requesting extensions is going to be February 2008. DHS is expected to finalize the rule in October.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) are planning a major enforcement and education effort Oct. 21-28, 2007. The mission is to improve commercial and non-commercial driver behavior and performance through effective enforcement, education and awareness strategies. During this week, a variety of commercial and non-commercial driver-focused enforcement and outreach activities will occur. CVSA plans to focus on many of the innovative approaches states are already using such as Washington State’s TACT program and the Smooth Operator program in the Mid-Atlantic region. While DOT and CVSA will be supporting this effort at the national level, they encourage law enforcement to provide support at the state, municipal and county level. CVSA has produced a variety of materials and invites you to co-brand with your logo. CVSA will be handling the production and printing of the materials, so there is no cost. Three of the Operation Safe Driver promotional pieces are available on AAMVA's Web site:

1. A tri-fold brochure for use in any venue
2. A folder that has a pocket in front to insert a ticket/citation and the brochure. It is intended that these would be distributed in the field by officers who take enforcement action against 4-wheelers.
3. A folder with a pocket in the front to insert an inspection form, ticket/citation and the brochure. It is intended that these would be distributed in the field by officers who take enforcement action against commercial motor vehicle drivers.

CVSA is also working on a poster to be posted at weigh stations, employer businesses, departments of motor vehicles and other state facilities. If you want to co-brand any of these materials  please let CVSA know. To make arrangements, please contact Steve Keppler at CVSA (stevek@cvsa.org, 202-775-1623, ext. 106). 

On Jan. 30, 2007, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrators Capka and Nason signed a joint memorandum to the FHWA Division and NHTSA Regional Offices stressing the importance of motorcycle travel data. This memo also outlined an accelerated timeline for the mandatory reporting of these data by state departments of transportation (DOTs) beginning in June 2008. FHWA and NHTSA are hosting the Motorcycle Travel Symposium at the NTSB Conference Facility - L'Enfant Plaza, Washington, D.C. on Oct. 10-12, 2007. The Symposium will bring together groups interested in measuring or using motorcycle travel data along with the groups currently collecting some form of motorcycle travel data. The target audience is federal, state, and local agencies, which collect travel data, vehicle registration data, and vehicle inspection data; and private industry representatives, which include groups that develop equipment for measuring travel, motorcycle manufacturers, motorcycle riders groups, toll facility operators, and any other individual or organization that as a course of business may record motorcycle odometer readings such as service stations and vehicle maintenance businesses. Other sources of motorcycle travel data will also be explored, such as active theft deterrent/recovery systems, aerial and satellite imagery, vehicle mounted digital short-range communication (DSRC) equipment, civilian adaptations of military technology, GPS, and cell phones.

Take your professional training and skills to a higher level; sign up today for the FDR Instructor Certification Course with AAMVA University. The course is tentatively scheduled to be held in Arlington, Virginia, from Oct. 22 to Oct. 26, 2007. Dates will be confirmed upon receipt of a minimum of 10 registrations; the deadline for which is Oct. 5. The prerequisite for enrollment is successful completion of the FDR Level II Course, which comprises Levels I&II. AAMVA University can also provide training at your jurisdiction's facility. Visit www.aamva-u.org for details on how to register, or contact aamvauniversity@aamva.org.

If you haven’t already done so, please respond to the following surveys: 

• Virginia – Print on Demand Temporary Tags (Ends 09/19/2007)
• Oregon – Address Requirements (Ends 10/05/2007)

AAMVA is pleased to announce its schedule for the fall Motor Carrier Safety Information Act (MCSIA) jurisdiction training. The following classes are scheduled: MCSIA Impacts (Oct. 9) , Documentation Usage (Oct. 11), CDLIS A (Oct. 16), CDLIS B (Oct. 18), CDLIS C (Oct. 23), 10-Year History Check & DLN Survey (Oct. 25), ACD Codes (Oct. 30), PDPS A (Nov. 1), PDPS B (Nov. 6), UNI Basics (Nov. 8), UNI Advanced A (Nov. 13), and UNI Advanced B (Nov. 15). All classes run from 2:00 - 4:00 pm (ET) and are presented via WebEx.  There is no charge for these classes; however, there are a limited number of WebEx connections available for each class. To register for these classes, please send an e-mail to trainer@aamva.org, and identify your jurisdiction's Training Coordinator. Additionally, you can contact Tim Rowe or more information.

States are now able to begin the collection of fees under the new Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) program.  On Aug. 24, 2007, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved the UCR fees and posted them in the Federal Register, clearing the way for participating states to begin implementation of the program. States are working to get notices out to the motor carriers as soon as possible so they can get carriers registered and fees collected for the 2007 registration period. Most participating states have not yet mailed out the notices but many indicated on the Sept. 13 UCR Board of Directors conference call they would be sending out the notices within the few weeks. For up-to-date information on the UCR and other motor carrier services programs, visit the AAMVA Web site at www.aamva.org and go to the Motor Carrier Services Discipline section or contact Tim Adams, AAMVA MCS Program Director at (502) 845-0398 or via e-mail.

Are you a Fraudulent Document Recognition (FDR) or Vehicle Document Examiner Certification (VDEC) trainer? Are you current on fraud-related alerts and issues? Starting Sept. 24, AAMVA is launching a new site -- the Fraud Certified Trainers SharePoint Team Site. Developed by AAMVA University, the new site gives trainers the opportunity to stay current on fraud-related alerts (such as those issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) and participate in discussions of interest in FDR training. In addition, multimedia presentations and links to current news items will be made available for download. Registration instructions will be sent to all AAMVA certified fraud trainers. A link to the Trainer Forum (located under Related Content) will be made available in the AAMVA University section of www.aamva.org; the link will be active on Monday, Sept. 24. For more information on the Trainer Forum, contact Shelly Jackson at (703) 908-5897 or Shashi Gowda at (703) 908-5898.