Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Part 367</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0268]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2126-AC67</RIN> <SUBJECT>Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> FMCSA amends the regulations governing the annual registration fees that participating States collect from motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies for the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) Plan and Agreement for the 2025 registration year and subsequent registration years. Following a reduction in fees of an average of 37.3 percent over the two prior years, the fees for the 2025 registration year will be increased above the fees for the 2024 registration year by an average of 25 percent overall, with varying increases between $9 and $9,000 per entity, depending on the applicable fee bracket. The final rule is based upon a recommendation from the UCR Plan. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Effective date:</E> July 17, 2024. Petitions for reconsideration of this final rule must be submitted to the FMCSA Administrator no later than July 17, 2024. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Mr. Kenneth Riddle, Director, Office of Registration and Safety Information, FMCSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001, <E T="03">FMCSA-MCRS@dot.gov.</E> If you have questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Dockets Operations at (202) 366-9826. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> FMCSA organizes this final rule as follows: <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Availability of Rulemaking Documents</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Executive Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Purpose and Summary of the Regulatory Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Costs and Benefits</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Abbreviations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Legal Basis for the Rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Discussion of Proposed Rulemaking and Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Proposed Rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Comments and Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Section-by-Section Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Regulatory Analyses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. E.O. 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review), E.O. 13563 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review), E.O. 14094 (Modernizing Regulatory Review), and DOT Regulatory Policies and Procedures</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Congressional Review Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Regulatory Flexibility Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Assistance for Small Entities</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. E.O. 13132 (Federalism)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Privacy</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. E.O. 13175 (Indian Tribal Governments)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Availability of Rulemaking Documents</HD> To view any documents mentioned as being available in the docket, go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FMCSA-2023-0268/document</E> and choose the document to review. To view comments, click this final rule, then click “Browse Comments.” If you do not have access to the internet, you may view the docket online by visiting Dockets Operations at U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 366-9317 or (202) 366-9826 before visiting Dockets Operations. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Executive Summary</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Purpose and Summary of the Regulatory Action</HD> Under 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) 14504a, the UCR Plan and the 41 States participating in the UCR Agreement collect fees from motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies. The UCR Plan and Agreement are administered by a 15-member board of directors (UCR Plan Board), which is comprised of 14 members appointed from the participating States and the industry, and the Deputy Administrator of FMCSA, who is a statutory member. Revenues collected are allocated to the participating States and the UCR Plan. In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 14504a(d)(7)(A)(ii) and (f)(1)(E)(i), the UCR Plan provides fee adjustment recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) when revenue collections result in a shortfall or surplus from the amount authorized by statute. If the required payments to the States and the cost of administering the UCR Plan exceed the amount in the depository, the UCR Plan must collect additional fees in subsequent years to cover the shortfall (49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(1)(E)(i)). If there are excess funds after payments to the States and for administrative costs, they are retained in the UCR Plan's depository, and fees in subsequent fee years must be reduced as required by 49 U.S.C. 14504a(h)(4). These two distinct statutory provisions are recognized in the fee adjustment recommended by the UCR Plan and adopted in this final rule to increase, by an average of 25 percent, the annual registration fees established pursuant to the UCR Agreement for the 2025 registration year and subsequent years. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  The UCR Plan Board's recommendation (Sept. 2023 Fee Recommendation) was transmitted on Sept. 27, 2023, and is available in the docket for this rulemaking. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Costs and Benefits</HD> The changes in this final rule increase the fees paid by motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies to the UCR Plan and the participating States. These fees are considered by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-4, Regulatory Analysis, as transfer payments, not costs. Transfer payments are payments from one group to another that do not affect total resources available to society. Therefore, transfers are not considered in the monetization of societal costs and benefits of rulemakings. Despite the classification of fees as transfer payments, the Agency acknowledges that motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies will incur a greater burden as a result of this fee increase. <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. Abbreviations</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ACH Automated Clearing House</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CE Categorical Exclusion</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CFR Code of Federal Regulations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DOT Department of Transportation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">E.O. Executive Order</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FR Federal Register</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NAICS North American Industry Classification System</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NPGA National Propane Gas Association</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NPRM Notice of Proposed Rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OMB Office of Management and Budget</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PIA Privacy Impact Assessment</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PTA Privacy Threshold Assessment</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SBA Small Business Administration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SBREFA Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SBTC Small Business in Transportation Coalition</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">Secretary Secretary of Transportation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">UCR Unified Carrier Registration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">UMRA Unfunded Mandates Reform Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">U.S.C. United States Code</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">IV. Legal Basis for the Rulemaking</HD> This rulemaking adjusts the annual UCR registration fees, as authorized by 49 U.S.C. 14504a. Section 14504a provides that the revenues collected from the fees should not exceed the maximum annual revenue entitlements distributed to the 41 participating States plus the amount established for administrative costs associated with the UCR Plan and Agreement. The UCR Agreement is an interstate agreement (as so defined in 49 U.S.C. 14504a(a)(8)) entered into by 41 participating States in accordance with the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 14504a(e)(1) and (2). The statute provides for the UCR Plan to ask the Secretary to make an adjustment within a reasonable range when the annual revenues are insufficient to provide the revenues to which the participating States are entitled (49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(1)(E)(i)). In addition, 49 U.S.C. 14504a(h)(4) states that any excess funds from previous registration years held by the UCR Plan in its depository, after distribution to the States and for payment of administrative costs, shall be retained and the fees charged shall be reduced by the Secretary accordingly. The UCR Plan must also obtain DOT approval to revise the total revenue to be collected, in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 14504a(d)(7). However, no changes in the revenue allocations to the participating States were recommended by the UCR Plan in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 14504a(g)(4) and therefore, no changes have been authorized by this rulemaking. The Secretary also has broad rulemaking authority in 49 U.S.C. 13301(a) to carry out 49 U.S.C. 14504a, which is part of 49 U.S.C. subtitle IV, part B. Authority to administer these statutory provisions has been delegated to the FMCSA Administrator by 49 CFR 1.87(a)(2) and (7). 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