Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2009/09/03/E9-21232/fees-for-the-unified-carrier-registration-plan-and-agreement
Timestamp: 2015-03-02 15:01:26
Document Index: 690525222

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 367', 'ART 367', '§ 367', '§ 367', '§ 367', '§ 367', '§ 367']

Federal Register | Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement
Dates: You must submit comments on or before September 18, 2009.
Comments Close: 09/18/2009
-45597 (15 pages)
Document Number: E9-21232
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/E9-21232 Related Topics
Fees for Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement 4 actions from September 3rd, 2009 to April 27th, 2010
Table 2—UCR Registration Summary 2007 to 2009 *
Docket: Comments and material received from the public, as well as background information and documents mentioned in this preamble, are part of docket FMCSA-2009-0231, and are available for inspection and copying on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov. You may also view and copy documents at the U.S. Department of Transportation's Docket Operations Unit, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC.
Congress in SAFETEA-LU also repealed 49 U.S.C. 14504 governing the Single State Registration System (SSRS) (SAFETEA-LU section 4305(a)).
The legislative history indicates that the purpose of the UCR Plan and Agreement is both to “replace the existing outdated system [SSRS]” for registration of interstate motor carrier entities with the States and to “ensure that States don't lose current revenues derived from SSRS” (S. Rep. 109-120, at 2 (2005)).
Among its responsibilities, the Board is required to submit to the Secretary of Transportation
a recommendation for the initial annual fees to be assessed motor carriers, motor private carriers, freight forwarders, brokers and leasing companies (49 U.S.C. 14504a(d)(7)(A)). FMCSA is directed to set the fees within 90 days after receiving the Board's recommendation and after notice and opportunity for public comment (49 U.S.C. 14504a(d)(7)(B)). Subsequent adjustment to the fees and fee brackets must be adopted following the same timelines and procedures of recommendation by the Board and review and adoption by FMCSA after notice and an opportunity for public comment (Id). As provided in 49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(1)(B): “The fees shall be determined by [FMCSA] based upon the recommendations of the [UCR] Board * * *.” The statute also directs both the Board and FMCSA to consider several relevant factors in their respective roles of recommending and setting the fees [49 U.S.C. 14504a(d)(7)(A), (f)(1) and (g)]. Thus, FMCSA has an obligation to consider independently the Board's recommendation in light of the statutory requirements, and to make its own determination of the appropriate fees and fee bracket structure, including modifying the Board's recommendation, if necessary.
II. Statutory Requirements for the UCR Fees Back to Top
2. Whether the revenues generated in the previous year and any surplus or shortage from that or prior years enable the participating States to achieve the revenue levels set by the Board.
III. Background of UCR Fees 2007 to Present Back to Top
Table 1—UCR Fees and Fee Structure 2007-2009 Back to Top
Number of commercial motor vehicles owned or operated by exempt or non-exempt motor carrier, motor private carrier, or freight
From collection years 2007 to the present, some participating States have achieved their revenue entitlement while others have exceeded it. In the latter case, the excess amount is forwarded to a depository established by the Board for distribution to those States that have not collected enough fees to reach their entitlement (49 U.S.C. 14504a(h)(2) and (3)). However, overall, revenue collections in 2009, like the previous years, have fallen short. The following table shows the amount of revenue shortfall for each registration year, based on information provided by the Board. Figures to date show that States are approximately 28 percent short of collecting their revenue entitlement. Table 2—UCR Registration Summary 2007 to 2009 * Back to Top
* Does not include estimated administrative expenses and revenue reserve that are included in the overall revenue target.
$101,772,400
$73,937,310
$27,835,090
107,777,060
76,617,155
31,159,905
77,148,988
30,628,072
IV. UCR Fee Proposals for Calendar Year 2010 Back to Top
Table 3—UCR Board Formal Fee and Bracket Recommendation for 2010 Transmitted on April 3, 2009 Back to Top
The Board assigned its Revenue and Fees Subcommittee responsibility for calculating the overall revenue requirement and recommending fees and the fee bracket structure.
The Board then reviewed the analysis conducted by the Revenue and Fees Subcommittee and selected the fees and fee bracket structure that it recommended to FMCSA.
During the course of the Subcommittee and Board consideration of various proposals, industry representatives on the Board
took the position that they would not support any recommendation that adjusted the fees beyond the amount necessary to reflect the statutory amendment changing the definition of commercial motor vehicle for purposes of calculating fleet size. Such a proposal, which was presented, but not voted on, at the Board's February 12, 2009, public meeting, is set out in the following table:
Table 4—Proposed Fee and Fee Structure for 2010 Based on Revised Definition of CMV Back to Top
The first step in certifying State revenue entitlements is to establish the participating jurisdictions for 2010. Section 14504a(e)(1) of the statute established a final deadline of August 10, 2008, for participation by the 51 States eligible to participate in the UCR Plan and Agreement.
Of the 38 States that participated in SSRS in 2006, all but two, California and North Carolina, agreed to participate in the UCR in registration year 2007. Of the thirteen States that did not participate in SSRS, only Oregon agreed to participate in the UCR for registration year 2007.
Prior to the August 10, 2008, statutory deadline, both California and North Carolina, formerly States participating in SSRS, joined the UCR Plan. Oregon withdrew from participation and Pennsylvania,
Alaska and Delaware, which had not participated in SSRS, agreed to participate in the UCR for registration year 2008 and subsequent years. Therefore, there are now 41 States participating and 10 States (including the District of Columbia) not participating.
Table 5—State UCR Revenue Entitlements Back to Top
$2,939,964.00
1,817,360.00
2,131,710.00
1,801,615.00
2,660,060.00
547,696.68
3,516,993.00
2,364,879.00
474,742.00
4,344,290.00
5,365,980.00
4,063,836.00
1,555,672.00
2,282,887.00
7,520,717.00
1,137,132.30
4,322,100.00
1,049,063.00
741,974.00
2,273,299.00
3,292,233.00
4,414,538.00
372,007.00
2,010,434.00
4,813,877.74
2,457,796.00
4,945,527.00
2,285,486.00
2,420,120.00
855,623.00
4,759,329.00
2,718,628.06
2,098,408.00
4,852,865.00
2,467,971.00
1,431,727.03
2,196,680.00
106,777,059.81
Total State Revenue Entitlement
Table 6—Categories of Motor Carrier Entities Back to Top
13102(14) and 14504a(a)(5).
13102(15).
13102(8) [Freight forwarders that operate motor vehicles are treated as motor carriers. 13903(b) and 14504a(b)].
13102(2).
14504a(a)(4).
To estimate the number of 2007 UCR entities, the Board (using the SafetyNet system) filtered data from the FMCSA Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) to capture carriers that had updated their MCS-150 census file
, had an inspection, crash, safety audit, or compliance review recorded within the past 12 months (March 1, 2006, through February 26, 2007). Applying this criteria (or filter) to identify recent activity to approximately 730,000 carriers listed in the database, the Board filtered out almost 380,000 carriers, leaving an estimated total number of active interstate carriers of 350,698. The Board then considered freight forwarders and brokers listed in the FMCSA Licensing and Insurance (LI) System. The number, as provided by FMCSA, was approximately 19,000. After freight forwarders that also operate CMVs were excluded to avoid double counting, the Board estimated the total number of freight forwarders and brokers as 14,575. Summing the 350,698 active interstate carriers and 14,575 freight forwarders and brokers, the Board arrived at a total affected population of 365,273.
To establish its carrier population estimate for 2010, the Board began with the MCMIS database for February 4, 2009, and applied the same filters used in 2007 with the minor change of extending the activity period to 15 months. The Board also included in the set of filters whether the carrier had registered under UCR. In addition, the Board took LI data on September 10, 2008, and, as before, filtered it to avoid double counting. For 2010, this process yielded an estimate of 433,535 for the full universe of carriers, brokers and freight forwarders.
The Board then adjusted the estimated full universe by the percentage of entities that had actually registered in each of the six brackets specified in the fee structure, compared to the number of entities that the Board had determined were potential registrants in each bracket. This approach yielded a total estimated population of 260,466 carriers, brokers and freight forwarders, as illustrated by the following table. This table contains the information in Figures 13 and 14
from the Board's recommendation and provides the percentages used by the Board to adjust its population estimates.
Table 7—Summary of Board Population Estimate for 2010 Back to Top
(C) = B/A
(E) = D x C
Brokers Freight Forwarders
1,001-More
As discussed above under Section IV.A.3. Revenue Target, the Board's target revenue figure with administrative costs and reserve for 2010 is $113,340,945. To determine how to allocate the total entitlement figure of $113,340,945 across the six brackets, the Board used a model that calculated (1) the number of entities in each bracket; (2) the revenues generated by each bracket at different fee amounts; (3) total revenues; and (4) any surplus or deficit from the $113,340,945 target figure. The Board also considered fairness in terms of fees per motor vehicle while assigning the fees for each bracket. This model is consistent with the one used in 2007, it ensures that the maximum fee per commercial motor vehicle in any given bracket would be no higher than the maximum fee per commercial motor vehicle in the next smaller bracket. The fees recommended by the Board range from a low of $83 for carriers in the lowest bracket (0 to 1 CMVs) to a high of $82,983 (the 1001-or-greater CMVs bracket). (See Table 3.) The Board estimated that this fee structure would generate $113,338,310 in revenues. This amount is slightly below the target figure, with a projected deficit of $2,635 for the UCR registration year 2010.
FMCSA's primary issues with the April 3 Board recommendation involve: (1) The need to recognize the revenue shortfalls caused by “bracket shifting,”i.e., motor carriers registering in a fee bracket that is different from that reflected in MCMIS and (2) the number of motor carrier entities that could be expected to comply with the statute and register and the related issue of the States' level of enforcement.
On Form MCS-150, motor carriers are required to report separately the number of self-propelled vehicles (i.e., power units) of various types and the number of towed vehicles (i.e., trailers), if any, that are owned or leased by the carrier, and then total “the number of each type of CMV that [it] uses in its U.S. operations.” See instructions for item 26, Form MCS-150 at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/forms/r-l/MCS-150-Instructions-and-Form.pdf. That information is compiled in MCMIS. The data, including the number of self-propelled and towed CMVs operated by motor carriers, was and is made available to the Board to enable it to develop its fees and fee bracket structure. The fees for the registration years 2007, 2008 and 2009 were developed by the Board on the assumption that each motor carrier that registered would pay a fee according to the bracket that is indicated by the number of vehicles owned and operated (both self-propelled and towed) reported in the MCMIS database. For 2010, because of the change in the applicable definition for CMV, the fleet sizes and applicable fees will be determined only by the number of self-propelled CMVs.
There are several ways that a motor carrier entity can determine its fleet size. Fees charged to a registering motor carrier or freight forwarder “shall be based on the number of commercial motor vehicles owned or operated * * *” (49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(1)(A)(i)). A CMV is “owned or operated” by the motor carrier or freight forwarder if, during the registration year, it is either registered under Federal or State law (or both) or controlled under a “long term lease” (49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(2)). The UCR Plan has determined that a lease of a CMV must be for more than 30 days to be considered a long term lease. See http://www.ucr.in.gov/MCS/2009%20UCR%20Instruction%20Sheet.doc. However, FMCSA requires that all leased vehicles, long term or otherwise, be reported on the MCS-150.
A registering motor carrier or freight forwarder then has the option of basing the number of CMVs owned or operated on either (1) the number reported on its most recently filed MCS-150; or (2) the total number owned or operated for the 12-month period ending on June 30 of the year preceding the registration year (49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(3)). This number is determined, for either option, after excluding leased vehicles that are under lease terms of 30 days or less. http://www.ucr.in.gov/MCS/2009%20UCR%20Instruction%20Sheet.doc. A motor carrier may include in its calculation of fleet size “any commercial motor vehicle” (49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(3)) and “any self-propelled vehicle used on the highway in commerce to transport passengers or property for compensation regardless of the gross vehicle weight rating of the vehicle or the number of passengers transported by such vehicle” (49 U.S.C. 14504a(a)(1)(B)). On the other hand, motor carriers and motor private carriers may elect not to include any CMV used “exclusively in the intrastate transportation of property, waste, or recyclable material” (49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(3)).
Table 8—2008 UCR Registration Back to Top
$5,207,709
$6,050,444
$12,039,951
$14,847,326
$71,413,930
Table 9—Revenue Impact 2008 Back to Top
$(547,393)
$(310,464)
$(72,098)
$(22,806)
$(952,761)
(460,230)
1,177,344
$(74,538)
(527,916)
5,200,276
(706,860)
7,420,418
10,504,212
6,104,670
6,203,533
5,491,816
(781,398)
23,857,920
This amount was a substantial portion of the total revenue shortfall of $31,159,905 experienced by the UCR Plan for registration year 2008. Shortfalls in 2007 and 2009 were apparently due to a similar phenomenon. In order to fulfill the statutory objective of ensuring that the revenues derived from the fees are sufficient to provide the revenues to which the participating States are entitled (see 49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(1)(E)(i)), it appears to FMCSA that an adjustment needs to be applied to the current fees to recognize the occurrence of bracket shifting.
Table 10—Alternative Fee Proposal for 2010 (No. 1) Back to Top
Table 11—Alternative Fee Proposal for 2010 (No. 2) Back to Top
V. The FMCSA Fee Proposal Back to Top
Table 12—Derivation of Fees Needed To Generate the Full Revenue Requirement With 100% Compliance and No Bracket Shift Back to Top
$10,418,616
$16,830,072
8,873,884
13,010,151
21,064,054
22,507,040
21,826,269
16,745,196
70,054,131
113,354,443
In response to FMCSA concern that the Board's recommendation did not take into account improved enforcement activities, the alternative proposals included a goal of 90 percent compliance by motor carrier entities based in participating States. For entities in the non-participating States, however, the alternative proposals did not consider a compliance target of 90 percent to be feasible. Because those States do not receive revenues through the UCR system, they do not have the incentive to exert effort on enforcement; and compliance rates could well remain low. For this reason, the alternative proposals used a lower goal of 80 percent compliance for registration by entities in the non-participating States.
Table 13—Registration Percentage Reasonableness (RPR) Factor Back to Top
Board's estimated
Board's projected
FMCSA's estimated
FMCSA's projected
Table 14—Derivation of Fee for Alternative Proposal Back to Top
The second alternative proposal included the same analysis set forth above, but with a 12.52 percent bracket shift factor (instead of 25.04 percent). This was based on the assumption that the bracket shifting rate for 2010 would be about half of the 2008 rate. This assumption was based on the fact that, under the new definition of CMV, 2010 fleet sizes are estimated to be approximately one-half of the prior years' fleet sizes, leaving out trailers and the data uncertainties associated with them. However, FMCSA does not believe that the Subcommittee provided convincing support or justification for this assumption. D. FMCSA Adjustments
Table 15—Calculation of Maximum Revenue at Existing Fees Back to Top
(MCMIS)*
* Population scaled down from 433,322 to the 2008 estimate of 433,279.
** Includes brokers and freight forwarders.
8,534,331
10,413,668
19,648,398
24,757,096
31,173,120
29,437,500
123,964,113
FMCSA does not know of any method to estimate with certainty the extent of this effect. However, it is reasonable to assume that the relationship between the percentage of uncollected revenues and the percentage of unregistered carriers after the increase in compliance will be similar to the relationship between the current percentage of uncollected revenues and current percentage of unregistered carriers. Currently, (100 percent−82.5 percent) or 17.5 percent of revenues are not being collected. The ratio of 17.5 percent in uncollected revenues to the 37.5 percent of carriers that are not registered is 0.468. As stated previously, with improved compliance, FMCSA believes that 63.79 percent of non-compliant carriers can be registered, leaving only 36.21 percent non-compliant. Multiplying 0.468 by 36.21 percent yields 17.0 percent, which is FMCSA's estimate of the percentage of currently uncollected revenues that will remain uncollected even after compliance improves (i.e., even after registering 63.79 percent of currently noncompliant carriers). Thus, (100 percent−17.0 percent) or 83.0 percent of the currently uncollected revenues are assumed to be recoverable when 63.79 percent of the currently noncompliant carriers are registered. Multiplying the $16,306,344 in currently uncollected revenues by 83.0 percent yields an increase of $13,543,247.
Table 16—Derivation of Fee for FMCSA Proposal Back to Top
VI. Regulatory Changes Back to Top
FMCSA has determined this proposed rule is a nonsignificant regulatory action within the meaning of Executive Order 12866 and the U.S. Department of Transportation's regulatory policies and procedures (DOT Order 2100.5 dated May 22, 1980; 44 FR 11034, February 26, 1979). The costs of this NPRM would not exceed the $100 million annual threshold as defined in Executive Order 12866. This rule is not economically significant based on the size of the additional fees to be collected under the UCR. The costs of the rule are required pursuant to an explicit Congressional mandate in SAFETEA-LU. Because a majority of the fees under the proposed rule are already being collected under the UCR system, the total cost of the proposed rule will be substantially less than $100 million per year. A major intent of the proposed rule is to eliminate the revenue shortfalls that the UCR system has experienced over the past several years; that shortfall was $38 million in 2008, for instance, and of similar magnitude in 2007 and 2009. This increase, though, will clearly be less than the $100 million threshold for a significant impact on the economy. The Agency has prepared a preliminary regulatory analysis analyzing the rule. A copy of the preliminary analysis document is included in the docket referenced at the beginning of this notice. Regulatory Flexibility Act
After careful consideration, however, FMCSA has determined that, in every case involving a viable small entity, the recommended UCR fee will be well below the threshold level of one percent of revenues used for determining significant impacts. This conclusion is based on the observation that the maximum fee per vehicle is $87, which is less than one percent of the $14,500 annual salary of even a single employee working 40 hours per week for 50 weeks per year and earning the current Federal minimum wage of $7.25.
Because an entity without sufficient revenues to pay even one employee per vehicle would not be viable, it is clear that the recommended UCR fees will not reach the threshold of one percent of revenues. Thus, FMCSA certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 367 Back to Top
PART 367—STANDARDS FOR REGISTRATION WITH STATES Back to Top
49 U.S.C. 13301, 14504a; and 49 CFR 1.73.
2. Remove and reserve subpart A, consisting of §§ 367.1 through 367.7 and Appendix A to subpart A.
Subpart B—Fees Under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement Back to Top
3. Amend subpart B by revising the heading of § 367.20 to read as follows:
§ 367.20 Fees Under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement for Registration Years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
4. Add § 367.30 to subpart B to read as follows:
§ 367.30 Fees under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement for Registration Years Beginning in 2010.
Fees Under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement for Each Registration Year Back to Top
Fee per entity for exempt or non-exempt motor carrier, motor
12. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/