14184 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 59 / Monday, March 30, 2009 / Notices 

1 ‘‘Federal Safety Agency Identifies Many HighRisk Carriers but Does Not Assess Maximum Fines 

as Often as Required by Law’’ (GAO–07–584, 

August 2007). 

2 ‘‘Significant Improvements for Motor Carrier 

Safety Program since 1999 Act but Loopholes for 

Repeat Violators Need Closing’’ (OIG Report No. 

MH–2006–046, April 21, 2006). 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

RTCA Government/Industry Air Traffic 

Management Advisory Committee; 

Correction 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Correction; Notice of RTCA 

Government/Industry Air Traffic 

Management Advisory Committee. 

SUMMARY: The FAA is correcting a 

notice of a meeting that was published 

on March 20, 2009 (72 FR 11987; FR 

Doc. E9–6176]. In that notice the FAA 

advised the public of a meeting of the 

RTCA Government/Industry Air Traffic 

Management Advisory Committee. 

Inadvertently the notice was published 

with an incorrect meeting date of March 

16, 2009. The correct date of the RTCA 

Government/Industry Air Traffic 

Management Advisory Committee 

meeting is May 27, 2009. 

DATES: The meeting will be held May 

27, 2009, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

FAA Headquarters, 800 Independence 

Avenue, SW., Bessie Coleman 

Conference Center (2nd Floor), 

Washington, DC 20591. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

RTCA Secretariat, 1828 L Street, NW., 

Suite 805, Washington, DC 20036; 

telephone (202) 833–9339; fax (202) 

833–9434; Web site http://www.rtca.org. 

METRO: L’Enfant Plaza Station (Use 7th 

& Maryland Exit). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Correction: In the Federal Register of 

March 20, 2009 (FR Doc. E9–6176) in 

the third column in the DATES section 

change the date of the meeting from 

‘‘March 16, 2009’’ to ‘‘May 27, 2009’’. 

Pursuant to section 10(a)(2) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. 

L. 92–463, 5 U.S.C., Appendix 2), notice 

is hereby given for the Air Traffic 

Management Advisory Committee 

meeting. The agenda will include: 

• Opening Plenary (Welcome and 

Introductions); 

• Report from RTCA Task Force on 

NextGen Mid-Term Implementation 

(NextGen TF); 

• ATMAC Member Discussion and 

Recommendations; 

• Closing Plenary (Other Business, 

Member Discussion, Adjourn). 

Attendance is open to the interested 

public but limited to space availability. 

With the approval of the chairmen, 

members of the public may present oral 

statements at the meeting. Persons 

wishing to present statements or obtain 

information should contact the person 

listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section. Members of the public 

may present a written statement to the 

committee at any time. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 20, 

2009. 

Meredith Gibbs, 

RTCA Advisory Committee. 

[FR Doc. E9–6991 Filed 3–27–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

Supplemental Policy on Assessing 

Maximum Fines under the Motor 

Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 

1999 (MCSIA) Section 222 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of policy change. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Motor Carrier 

Safety Administration (FMCSA) 

provides notice to the motor carrier 

industry of policy changes regarding the 

assessment of maximum fines under 

section 222 of the Motor Carrier Safety 

Improvement Act of 1999 (MCSIA). 

Section 222 requires the Agency to 

assess maximum statutory penalties if a 

person is found to have committed a 

pattern of violations of critical or acute 

regulations, or previously committed 

the same or a related violation of critical 

or acute regulations. 

DATES: Effective Date: This change in 

policy is effective April 1, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

David Mancl, Acting Chief, Enforcement 

and Compliance Division, MC–ECE, 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. 

Telephone: 202–366–6830. Office hours 

are from 7:45–4:45 p.m., e.t., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

Web site address: http:// 

www.fmcsa.dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Background 

Section 222 of MCSIA directs the 

Secretary of Transportation to ‘‘assess 

the maximum civil penalty for each 

violation by any person who is found to 

have committed a pattern of violations 

of critical or acute regulations, or to 

have previously committed the same or 

a related violation of critical or acute 

regulations.’’ [Pub. L. 106–159, 113 Stat. 

1748, 1769, Dec. 9, 1999; codified in 49 

U.S.C. 521 note.] 

On September 8, 2000, FMCSA issued 

a policy memorandum that changed its 

fine assessment policy to meet the 

requirements of section 222 of MCSIA. 

On December 28, 2004, FMCSA 

published a clarification of its 

September 8, 2000, policy statement 

implementing section 222 of MCSIA (69 

FR. 77828). The memorandum and 

subsequent Federal Register notice 

defined both a ‘‘pattern of violations’’ 

and ‘‘previously committed the same or 

related violation’’ as three cases closed 

with findings of violation occurring 

within the last six years. The three 

cases—also known as ‘‘three strikes’’— 

consist of two cases that have been 

closed with findings of violations, 

followed by a third case, in which the 

discovery of violations during an on-site 

compliance review, shipper review or 

terminal review involved the same part 

of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Regulations (FMCSR) and/or Federal 

Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) 

in Title 49 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations. 

In an August 2007 report,1 the 

Government Accountability Office 

(GAO) concluded that FMCSA’s ‘‘threestrikes’’ policy failed to assess 

maximum penalties against all serious 

violators and achieve MCSIA’s statutory 

intent that maximum penalties be 

imposed in two distinct situations for a 

pattern of violations, and for repeat 

violations of the same or related 

regulations. The GAO recommended 

that FMCSA revise its policy to include 

(1) a definition for a pattern of 

violations that is distinct from a 

repeated violation of the same or related 

regulations and (2) a two-strike, rather 

than a three-strike, policy. In an earlier 

2006 report,2 the Department of 

Transportation’s Office of Inspector 

General (OIG) similarly recommended 

that FMCSA develop procedures to 

implement the section 222 ‘‘pattern of 

violations’’ provision and additionally 

to count for section 222 purposes all 

acute and critical violations discovered 

during a compliance review. Based on 

these recommendations, FMCSA reexamined its policy and adopts the 

revisions contained in this notice. 

Policy 

This policy supplements FMCSA’s 

existing policy and continues its 

implementation of section 222 of 

MCSIA consistent with the statutory 

language and in response to the GAO 


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