Opinion ID: 1977461
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statutory Authorization for the Stop of Melvin's Tractor-Trailer

Text: [¶ 10] Title 29-A M.R.S. § 555 (2007) expressly authorizes the Bureau of State Police to adopt by reference numerous provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in order to promote the safety of the operation of motor carriers over the highways. See 29-A M.R.S. § 555(1), (2); 49 C.F.R. Ch. III, Subch. B (2007). The Bureau of State Police has, in fact, adopted by reference various federal regulations governing motor carriers, including the federal rule that interstate truckers are subject to being stopped on a regular basis and that their vehicles may be inspected for violations of these regulations at the discretion of an inspecting officer. See 9 C.M.R. 16 222 004 (2008); [2] 49 C.F.R. § 396.9(a) (2007); 49 C.F.R. Ch. III, Subch. B, App. B. The relevant federal rule provides that [e]very special agent of the [Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] (as defined in appendix B to this subchapter) is authorized to enter upon and perform inspections of motor carrier's vehicles in operation. 49 C.F.R. § 396.9(a). The federal regulations further provide: Persons appointed as special agents of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. . . are authorized to enter upon, to inspect, and to examine any and all lands, buildings, and equipment of motor carriers and other persons subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, the Department of Transportation Act, and other related Acts, and to inspect and copy any and all accounts, books, records, memoranda, correspondence, and other documents of such carriers and other persons. 49 C.F.R Ch. III, Subch. B, App. B. [¶ 11] The Maine regulations promulgated pursuant to 29-A M.R.S. § 555 specifically adopt and incorporate these provisions of the federal regulations, and also provide that a special agent of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration means a motor carrier inspector, state police officer, municipal officer, or sheriff, who has satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of instruction . . . with respect to the Federal regulations. 9 C.M.R. 16 222 004-2 § 1(D). Because the Legislature has expressly authorized the Bureau of State Police to adopt and enforce the federal regulations relating to the inspection of motor carriers, the statute and the resulting regulatory scheme plainly establish that commercial truckers may be stopped and subjected to administrative inspections when they pull into mandatory checkpoints. [¶ 12] In addition, the public policy embodied in the third prong of the Burger testthat a regulatory inspection scheme must be sufficiently certain as to its application and scope so as to serve the function that would otherwise be served by a search warrantis achieved here. Melvin had every reason to know that he was subject to being stopped at a mandatory checkpoint to determine whether he was complying with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, including the regulations governing maximum driving times and records of duty status. See 49 C.F.R. §§ 395.3, 395.8 (2007). Indeed, the identical question presented here was addressed and answered by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 2004, more than two years before Melvin's arrest. In United States v. Maldonado , the court concluded that Maine's interstate commercial trucking regulatory scheme satisfies the third prong of the Burger test because the federal regulations suitably cabin[ ] the discretion of the enforcing officer; the regulations give ample notice to interstate truckers that inspections will be made on a regular basis; and commercial drivers are required by law to be familiar with the applicable regulations. 356 F.3d at 136. Because this is a state proceeding, Maldonado does not preclude Melvin from challenging Maine's motor carrier inspections under the Burger test. Nonetheless, Maldonado put all commercial operators on notice that, for purposes of state motor carrier safety enforcement, there was little reason to doubt that the applicable federal and state regulations include the unequivocal requirement that commercial truck drivers submit to warrantless administrative inspections.