Truckers and Travelers

Hello, Fellow Drivers,  I found an interesting article from Land Line Magazine, February 2010.  For those of you with trucking authority, or want to get trucking authority, this article will be of interest to you.  Enjoy the read and remember to be safe out there.

By Jami Jones
senior editor

 With the start of a new year, truckers wanting to clear out their fee obligations are left without a clear answer on what they owe in Unified Carrier Registration fees for 2010.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration posted a notice to the Federal Register in September 2009 outlining new proposed fees. The extended comment period closed later that month.

FMCSA officials reported during the rulemaking process that states have been unable to effectively collect the UCR revenue they are entitled to by law during the 2007-2009 registration years. They believe the proposed new fee levels will both encourage states to aggressively enforce the UCR fees rule and generate the necessary revenue to execute state motor carrier safety programs.

The fee structure proposed in the rulemaking for 2010 is:

0-1 trucks………………………. $83
2-5 trucks…………………….. $166
6-20 trucks…………………… $497
21-100 trucks……………… $1,741
101-1,000 trucks…………. $8,373
1,001 or more trucks….. $82,983

Brokers and leasing companies will still be subject to the same fee paid by truckers in the 0-1 truck category.

However, as of mid-December 2009, the agency still had not published a final determination on the fees.

“There is an enforcement memo going out telling roadside law enforcement after the first of the year to not write tickets for not having your credentials in place in the cab because there simply isn’t going to be anything in place yet,” OOIDA Director of Regulatory Affairs Joe Rajkovacz told Land Line.

“That is not to say they will not be enforcing the payment of previous years’ UCR fees,” he added.Rajkovacz said truckers really need to make sure they have their proof of payment on

2009 UCR fees.

“Some jurisdictions are writing $1,000 tickets,” he said.

Rajkovacz said he expects the 2010 UCR fees to be settled sometime in the first quarter of 2010. LL