Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement, 1053-1059 [2024-00262]
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 6 / Tuesday, January 9, 2024 / Proposed Rules
Child Labor—Cooperation With
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34. Amend section 52.222–54 by—
a. Revising the date of the clause;
b. Removing from paragraph (b)(5)(i)
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■ c. Revising paragraph (b)(5)(ii).
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52.222–54 Employment Eligibility
Verification.
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Employment Eligibility Verification
(Date)
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(b) * * *
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(ii) During the period between
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Contractor is excused from its
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[FR Doc. 2024–00172 Filed 1–8–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820–EP–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
49 CFR Part 367
[Docket No. FMCSA–2023–0268 RIN 2126–
AC67]
Fees for the Unified Carrier
Registration Plan and Agreement
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking
(NPRM).
AGENCY:
FMCSA proposes
amendments to its 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. The
fees for the 2025 registration year would
be increased above the fees for the 2024
registration year by an average of 25.0
percent overall, with varying increases
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SUMMARY:
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between $9 and $9,000 per entity,
depending on the applicable fee bracket.
The proposal is based upon a
recommendation from the UCR Plan.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before February 8, 2024.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
identified by Docket Number FMCSA–
2023–0268 using any of the following
methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/
FMCSA-2023-0268/document. Follow
the online instructions for submitting
comments.
• Mail: Dockets Operations, U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building,
Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590–
0001.
• Hand Delivery or Courier: Dockets
Operations, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, West Building, Ground
Floor, 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.
• Fax: (202) 493–2251.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Kenneth Riddle, Director, Office of
Registration and Safety Information,
FMCSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC 20590–0001,
FMCSAMCRS@dot.gov. If you have
questions on viewing or submitting
material to the docket, call Dockets
Operations at (202) 366–9826.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FMCSA
organizes this NPRM as follows:
I. Public Participation and Request for
Comments
A. Submitting Comments
B. Viewing Comments And Documents
C. Privacy
II. Executive Summary
A. Purpose and Summary of the Regulatory
Action
B. Costs and Benefits
III. Abbreviations
IV. Legal Basis
V. Background
VI. Discussion of Proposed Rulemaking
VII. Severability
VIII. Section-by-Section Analysis
IX. Regulatory Analyses
A. Executive Order (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
B. Congressional Review Act
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
D. Assistance for Small Entities
E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
F. Paperwork Reduction Act
G. E.O. 13132 (Federalism)
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1053
H. Privacy
I. E.O. 13175 (Indian Tribal Governments)
J. National Environmental Policy Act of
1969
K. Rulemaking Summary
I. Public Participation and Request for
Comments
A. Submitting Comments
If you submit a comment, please
include the docket number for this
NPRM (FMCSA–2023–0268), indicate
the specific section of this document to
which your comment applies, and
provide a reason for each suggestion or
recommendation. You may submit your
comments and material online or by fax,
mail, or hand delivery, but please use
only one of these means. FMCSA
recommends that you include your
name and a mailing address, an email
address, or a phone number in the body
of your document so FMCSA can
contact you if there are questions
regarding your submission.
To submit your comment online, go to
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/
FMCSA-2023-0268/document, click on
this NPRM, click ‘‘Comment,’’ and type
your comment into the text box on the
following screen.
If you submit your comments by mail
or hand delivery, submit them in an
unbound format, no larger than 81⁄2 by
11 inches, suitable for copying and
electronic filing.
FMCSA will consider all comments
and material received during the
comment period.
Confidential Business Information (CBI)
CBI is commercial or financial
information that is both customarily and
actually treated as private by its owner.
Under the Freedom of Information Act
(5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from
public disclosure. If your comments
responsive to the NPRM contain
commercial or financial information
that is customarily treated as private,
that you actually treat as private, and
that is relevant or responsive to the
NPRM, it is important that you clearly
designate the submitted comments as
CBI. Please mark each page of your
submission that constitutes CBI as
‘‘PROPIN’’ to indicate it contains
proprietary information. FMCSA will
treat such marked submissions as
confidential under the Freedom of
Information Act, and they will not be
placed in the public docket of the
NPRM. Submissions containing CBI
should be sent to Mr. Brian Dahlin,
Chief, Regulatory Evaluation Division,
Office of Policy, FMCSA, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
20590–0001 or via email at
brian.g.dahlin@dot.gov. At this time,
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you need not send a duplicate hardcopy
of your electronic CBI submissions to
FMCSA headquarters. Any comments
FMCSA receives not specifically
designated as CBI will be placed in the
public docket for this rulemaking.
B. Viewing Comments and Documents
To view any documents mentioned as
being available in the docket, go to
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/
FMCSA-2023-0268/document and
choose the document to review. To view
comments, click this NPRM, then click
‘‘Browse Comments.’’ If you do not have
access to the internet, you may view the
docket online by visiting Dockets
Operations on the ground floor of the
DOT West Building, 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.
C. Privacy
DOT solicits comments from the
public to better inform its regulatory
process, in accordance with 5 U.S.C.
553(c). DOT posts these comments,
including any personal information the
commenter provides, to
www.regulations.gov. This process is
described in the system of records
notice (DOT/ALL 14—Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS)), which
can be reviewed at https://
www.transportation.gov/individuals/
privacy/privacy-act-system-recordsnotices. The comments are posted
without edit and are searchable by the
name of the submitter.
II. Executive Summary
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Under 49 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) and (f)(1)(E)(ii), the UCR
Plan provides fee adjustment
recommendations to the Secretary when
revenue collections result in a shortfall
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B. Costs and Benefits
The changes proposed in this NPRM
would 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. While each
motor carrier or other covered entity
might realize an increased burden, 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. The details of
the amount of increase to the annual
UCR fee for each fee bracket, are
included in the discussion below in
Section VI.
III. Abbreviations
A. Purpose and Summary of the
Regulatory Action
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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. 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 proposed in this NPRM,
to increase by an average of 25.0 percent
the annual registration fees established
pursuant to the UCR Agreement for the
2025 registration year and subsequent
years.1
CBI Confidential Business Information
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
CMV Commercial Motor Vehicle
DOT Department of Transportation
E.O. Executive Order
FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
FR Federal Register
NAICS North American Industry
Classification System
NPRM Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
OMB Office of Management and Budget
PIA Privacy Impact Assessment
PTA Privacy Threshold Assessment
RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act
SBA Small Business Administration
SBREFA Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
Secretary Secretary of Transportation
1 The UCR Plan Board’s recommendation
(September 2023 Fee Recommendation) was issued
on September 27, 2023, and is available in the
docket for this rulemaking.
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UCR Unified Carrier Registration
UMRA Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
U.S.C. United States Code
IV. Legal Basis
This rulemaking would adjust 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. In accordance with 49
U.S.C. 14504a(f)(1)(E)(i), the statute
provides for the UCR Plan to request an
adjustment by the Secretary of
Transportation (the Secretary) when the
annual revenues are insufficient to
provide the revenues to which the
participating States are entitled.
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
(49 U.S.C. 14504a(h)(4)).
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 or
would be 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).
V. Background
This NPRM follows UCR adjustments
for prior two registration years that,
collectively, reduced fees by an
aggregate average of 37.3 percent. First,
the 2022 final rule (Fees for the Unified
Carrier Registration Plan and
Agreement, Sept. 1, 2022 (87 FR
53680)), as corrected on September 8,
2022 (87 FR 54902) reduced the fees for
2023 by an average of 31.2 percent from
the fees for 2022. The following year,
the 2023 final rule (Fees for the Unified
Carrier Registration Plan and
Agreement, June 22, 2023 (88 FR
40719)) reduced the fees for 2024 by an
additional average of 8.9 percent from
the fees for 2023. Both fee adjustment
recommendations submitted by the UCR
Plan, and particularly the 2023
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recommendation (for 2024 registration
year fees), explicitly anticipated a need
to increase fees in, or around, the 2025
fee registration year because the funds
from excess collections that required the
2 years of fee reductions, would be
largely utilized. This need for
registration fee adjustments is
unavoidable due to both the statutory
requirements for the UCR Plan and
Agreement (as discussed above) and the
fluctuations in the number of entities
registering with the Plan.
The fee levels, actual and proposed,
for the registration years 2019 to 2025
are shown in the following table:
TABLE 1—UCR PLAN FEES—2019–2025
Bracket
1
2
3
4
5
6
Number of CMVs
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
* 0–2
3–5
6–20
21–100
101–1000
1001+
2019
2020–2022
$68
204
407
1,420
6,766
66,072
2023
$59
176
351
1,224
5,835
56,977
2024
$41
121
242
844
4,024
39,289
2025
$37
111
221
769
3,670
35,836
$46
138
276
963
4,592
44,836
* Also applies to brokers and leasing companies.
The proposed fees for 2025 are still
less than the fees that were in effect in
registration years 2019–2022.
On September 27, 2023, the UCR Plan
recommended to the Secretary that
FMCSA increase the fees for the 2025
registration year no later than
September 1, 2024, to allow collections
to begin on October 1, 2024. As noted
above, the recommendation and
supporting documents are available in
the docket for this rulemaking. In
addition to the fee recommendation
information from the UCR Plan, the
submission also included an
explanation of the basis for the
recommendation and the procedures the
UCR Plan followed in its development.
This fee recommendation also included
an explanation of the methodology used
when calculating the fee, to facilitate
public comment and allow replication
of the analysis in the UCR Plan’s
recommendation.
VI. Discussion of Proposed Rulemaking
This NPRM proposes to increase fees
by an average of 25.0 percent for the
2025 registration year, compared to the
fees for 2024. The proposed increase for
each fee bracket is shown in the
following table:
TABLE 2—UCR PLAN FEES PROPOSED INCREASE FROM 2024 TO 2025
Bracket
1
2
3
4
5
6
Number of CMVs
.................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
2024
* 0–2
3–5
6–20
21–100
101–1000
1001+
$37
111
221
769
3,670
35,836
2025
Difference
$46
138
276
963
4,592
44,836
$9
27
55
194
922
9,000
* Also applies to brokers and leasing companies.
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This upward fee adjustment, which
follows significant fee reductions, had
been anticipated and was discussed in
the previous rulemaking addressing fee
adjustments for the 2024 registration
year.2
The UCR Plan modified its
methodology for developing the
recommendation from its most recent
recommendations,3 as the previous
methodology using average collections
was determined by the UCR Plan to
result in an over-collection of fees. The
UCR Plan’s recommendation now uses
2 The 2024 Fees for the Unified Carrier
Registration Plan and Agreement final rule was
published on June 2023 (88 FR 40719).
3 As explained on page 3 of the 2025 Fee Change
Proposal submitted by the UCR Plan, this change
in its Fee Recommendation Policy was adopted by
the board of directors of the Plan at its meeting of
July 27, 2023. See also 27Jul23 Board Minutes.pdf
(prod-public-ucr-docs-boardminutes.s3.amazonaws.com).
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the minimum of the historical monthly
collections for the same time periods in
each of the prior 3-year periods to
determine projected collections, which
the UCR Plan believes will yield a more
accurate result. This change in the
methodology is explained more fully in
the UCR Plan’s recommendation, which
is available in the docket for this
rulemaking.
VII. Severability
The revised and new sections are not
severable. This is so because if the
increased fees for 2025 are set aside,
then the existing fee levels must remain
in effect to provide funds towards
participating States receiving their
revenue entitlements during 2025.
While the 2024 fees would not be
sufficient to fully cover the 2025 State
entitlements and administrative costs,
that revenue would be necessary to
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provide at least some portion of the
entitlements due to participating States.
VIII. Section-by-Section Analysis
FMCSA proposes to revise 49 CFR
367.40 (which was adopted in the 2023
final rule) so that the fees apply to
registration year 2024 only. A new
§ 367.50 proposes to establish new
increased fees applicable beginning in
registration year 2025, based on the
recommendation submitted by the UCR
Plan in its September 2023 Fee
Recommendation. The fees in proposed
new § 367.50 would remain in effect for
subsequent registration years after 2025
unless revised by a future rulemaking.
FMCSA also proposes to remove 49
CFR 367.20, which set the fees for 2020,
2021 and 2022, as those fee amounts
will not be necessary.
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IX. Regulatory Analyses
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A. Executive Order (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
FMCSA has considered the impact of
this NPRM under E.O. 12866 (58 FR
51735, Oct. 4, 1993), Regulatory
Planning and Review, E.O. 13563 (76 FR
3821, Jan. 21, 2011), Improving
Regulation and Regulatory Review, E.O.
14094 (88 FR 29179, Apr. 11, 2023)
Modernizing Regulatory Review, and
DOT’s regulatory policies and
procedures. The Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs, as stated in
section 3(f) of E.O. 12866, as
supplemented by E.O. 13563 and
amended by E.O. 14094, does not
require an assessment of potential costs
and benefits under section 6(a)(3) of that
order. Accordingly, OMB has not
reviewed it under that E.O.
The changes proposed by this rule
would increase the registration fees paid
by motor carriers, motor private carriers
of property, brokers, freight forwarders,
and leasing companies to the UCR Plan
and the participating States. While each
motor carrier or other entity would
incur an increased burden, fees are
considered by 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. By definition,
transfers are not considered in the
monetization of societal costs and
benefits of rulemakings. The details of
the amount of increase to the annual
UCR fee for each fee bracket, are
included in the discussion above in
Section VI.
This rulemaking would establish
increases in the annual registration fees
for the UCR Plan and Agreement. The
entities affected by this rule are the
participating States, motor carriers,
motor private carriers of property,
brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing
companies. Because the State UCR
revenue entitlements would remain
unchanged, the participating States
would not be impacted by this rule. The
primary impact of this rule would be an
increase in fees paid by individual
motor carriers, motor private carriers of
property, brokers, freight forwarders,
and leasing companies. The increase in
fees for the 2025 registration year from
the 2024 registration year fees (approved
on June 22, 2023 (88 FR 40179)) would
be an average of 25.0 percent, ranging
from $9 to $9,000 per entity, depending
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on the number of vehicles owned or
operated by the affected entities.
B. Congressional Review Act
This rule is not a major rule as
defined under the Congressional Review
Act (5 U.S.C. 801–808).4
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5
U.S.C. 601 et seq., RFA), as amended by
the Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
(SBREFA),5 requires Federal agencies to
consider the effects of the regulatory
action on small business and other
small entities and to minimize any
significant economic impact. The term
small entities comprises small
businesses and not-for-profit
organizations that are independently
owned and operated and are not
dominant in their fields, and
governmental jurisdictions with
populations of less than 50,000 (5 U.S.C.
601(6)). Accordingly, DOT policy
requires an analysis of the impact of all
regulations on small entities, and
mandates that agencies strive to lessen
any adverse effects on these businesses.
This rulemaking would directly affect
the participating States, motor carriers,
motor private carriers of property,
brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing
companies. Under the standards of the
RFA, as amended by SBREFA, the
participating States are not small
entities. States are not considered small
entities because they do not meet the
definition of a small entity in section
601 of the RFA. Specifically, States are
not considered small governmental
jurisdictions under section 601(5) of the
RFA, both because State government is
not included among the various levels
of government listed in section 601(5),
and because, even if this were the case,
no State or the District of Columbia has
a population of less than 50,000, which
is the criterion by which a governmental
jurisdiction is considered small under
section 601(5) of the RFA.
The Small Business Administration’s
(SBA’s) size standard for a small entity
(13 CFR 121.201) differs by industry
code. The entities affected by this rule
fall into many different industry codes.
4A
major rule means any rule that OMB finds has
resulted in or is likely to result in (a) an annual
effect on the economy of $100 million or more; (b)
a major increase in costs or prices for consumers,
individual industries, geographic regions, Federal,
State, or local government agencies; or (c)
significant adverse effects on competition,
employment, investment, productivity, innovation,
or on the ability of United States-based enterprises
to compete with foreign-based enterprises in
domestic and export markets (5 U.S.C. 802(4)).
5 Public Law 104–121, 110 Stat. 857, (Mar. 29,
1996).
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In order to determine if this rule would
have an impact on a significant number
of small entities, FMCSA examined the
2012 and 2017 Economic Census data
for two different North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS)
industries: Truck Transportation
(subsector 484) and Transit and Ground
Transportation (subsector 485).
As shown in the table below, the SBA
size standards for the national
industries under the Truck
Transportation and Transit and Ground
Transportation subsectors range from
$19.0 million to $43.0 million in
revenue per year. To determine the
percentage of firms that have revenue at
or below SBA’s thresholds within each
of the NAICS national industries,
FMCSA examined data from the 2017
Economic Census.6 In instances where
2017 data were suppressed, the Agency
imputed 2017 levels using data from the
2012 Economic Census.7 Boundaries for
the revenue categories used in the
economic Census do not exactly
coincide with the SBA thresholds.
Instead, the SBA threshold generally
falls between two different revenue
categories. However, FMCSA was able
to make reasonable estimates as to the
percentage of small entities within each
NAICS code.
The percentages of small entities with
annual revenue less than the SBA’s
threshold ranged from 96.3 percent to
100 percent. Specifically, approximately
96.3 percent of Specialized Freight
(except Used Goods) Trucking, Long
Distance (484230) firms had annual
revenue less than the SBA’s revenue
threshold of $34.0 million and would be
considered small entities. FMCSA
estimates 100 percent of firms in the
Mixed Mode Transit Systems (485111)
national industry had annual revenue
less than $29.0 million and would be
considered small entities. The table
below shows the complete estimates of
the number of small entities within the
national industries that may be affected
by this rule.
6 U.S. Census Bureau. 2017 Economic Census.
Table EC1700SIZEEMPFIRM—Selected Sectors:
Employment Size of Firms for the U.S.: 2017.
Available at: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/
2017/econ/economic-census/naics-sector-4849.html (accessed Dec. 5, 2023).
7 U.S. Census Bureau. 2012 Economic Census.
Table EC1248SSSZ4—Transportation and
Warehousing: Subject Series—Estab & Firm Size:
Summary Statistics by Revenue Size of Firms for
the U.S.: 2012 Available at: https://
www.census.gov/data/tables/2012/econ/census/
transportation-warehousing.html (accessed Dec. 5,
2023).
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TABLE 3—ESTIMATES OF NUMBER OF SMALL ENTITIES
Description
484110 .....................
484121 .....................
484122 .....................
General Freight Trucking, Local ................................................
General Freight Trucking, Long Distance, Truckload ...............
General Freight Trucking, Long Distance, Less Than Truckload.
Used Household and Office Goods Moving ..............................
Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Local .......
Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Long Distance.
Mixed Mode Transit Systems ....................................................
Bus and Other Motor Vehicle Transit Systems .........................
Interurban and Rural Bus Transportation ..................................
Limousine Service .....................................................................
School and Employee Bus Transportation ................................
Charter Bus Industry ..................................................................
Special Needs Transportation ...................................................
All Other Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation .........
484210 .....................
484220 .....................
484230 .....................
485111
485113
485210
485320
485410
485510
485991
485999
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
SBA size
standard
in millions
NAICS code
.....................
.....................
.....................
.....................
.....................
.....................
.....................
.....................
Therefore, while FMCSA has
determined that this rulemaking would
impact a substantial number of small
entities, it has also determined that the
rulemaking would not have a significant
impact on them. The effect of this
rulemaking would be to increase the
annual registration fee that motor
carriers, motor private carriers of
property, brokers, freight forwarders,
and leasing companies are currently
required to pay. The increase will be
25.0 percent on average, $9 to $9,000
per entity, depending on the number of
vehicles owned and/or operated by the
affected entities.
While the RFA does not define a
threshold for determining whether a
specific regulation results in a
significant impact, the SBA, in guidance
to government agencies, provides some
objective measures of significance that
the agencies can consider using. One
measure that could be used to illustrate
a significant impact is labor costs;
specifically, whether the cost of the
regulation exceeds 1 percent of the
average annual revenues of small
entities in the sector. Given that entities
owning between 0 and 2 CMVs would
experience an increase of $9, a small
entity would need to have average
annual revenue of less than $900 to
experience an impact greater than 1
percent of average annual revenue. This
is an average annual revenue that is
smaller than would be required for a
firm to support one employee. The
increased fee amount and impact on
revenue increase linearly depending on
the applicable fee bracket.
Consequently, I certify that the
proposed action would not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
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Percent
of all
firms
22,066
23,557
3,138
21,950
23,045
3,050
99.5
97.8
97.2
34.0
34.0
34.0
6,097
22,797
7,310
6,041
22,631
7,042
99.1
99.3
96.3
29.0
32.5
32.0
19.0
30.0
19.0
19.0
19.0
25
318
309
3,706
2,279
1,031
2,592
1,071
25
308
302
3,694
2,226
1,013
2,567
1,059
100.0
96.9
97.7
99.7
97.7
98.3
99.1
98.9
E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of
1995
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1531–1538, UMRA)
requires Federal agencies to assess the
effects of their discretionary regulatory
actions. The Act addresses actions that
may result in the expenditure by a State,
local, or Tribal government, in the
aggregate, or by the private sector of
$192 million (which is the value
Frm 00020
Number
of small
entities
$34.0
34.0
43.0
D. Assistance for Small Entities
In accordance with section 213(a) of
SBREFA, FMCSA wants to assist small
entities in understanding this proposed
rule so they can better evaluate its
effects on themselves and participate in
the rulemaking initiative. If the
proposed rule would affect your small
business, organization, or governmental
jurisdiction and you have questions
concerning its provisions or options for
compliance, please consult the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. Small businesses may send
comments on the actions of Federal
employees who enforce or otherwise
determine compliance with Federal
regulations to SBA’s Small Business and
Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement
Ombudsman (Office of the National
Ombudsman, see https://www.sba.gov/
about-sba/oversight-advocacy/officenational-ombudsman) and the Regional
Small Business Regulatory Fairness
Boards. The Ombudsman evaluates
these actions annually and rates each
agency’s responsiveness to small
business. If you wish to comment on
actions by employees of FMCSA, call 1–
888–REG–FAIR (1–888–734–3247). DOT
has a policy regarding the rights of small
entities to regulatory enforcement
fairness and an explicit policy against
retaliation for exercising these rights.
PO 00000
Total
number
of firms
equivalent of $100 million in 1995,
adjusted for inflation to 2022 levels) or
more in any 1 year. Though this NPRM
would not result in such an
expenditure, and the analytical
requirements of UMRA do not apply as
a result, the Agency discusses the effects
of this rule elsewhere in this preamble.
F. Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule contains no new
information collection requirements
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501–3520).
G. E.O. 13132 (Federalism)
A rule has implications for federalism
under section 1(a) of E.O. 13132 if it has
‘‘substantial direct effects on the States,
on the relationship between the national
government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and
responsibilities among the various
levels of government.’’
FMCSA has determined that this rule
would not have substantial direct costs
on or for States, nor would it limit the
policymaking discretion of States.
Nothing in this document preempts any
State law or regulation. Therefore, this
rule does not have sufficient federalism
implications to warrant the preparation
of a Federalism Impact Statement.
H. Privacy
The Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2005,8 requires the Agency to assess the
privacy impact of a regulation that will
affect the privacy of individuals. This
NPRM would not require the collection
of personally identifiable information.
8 Public Law 108–447, 118 Stat. 2809, 3268, note
following 5 U.S.C. 552a (Dec. 4, 2014).
E:\FR\FM\09JAP1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 6 / Tuesday, January 9, 2024 / Proposed Rules
The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a)
applies only to Federal agencies and any
non-Federal agency that receives
records contained in a system of records
from a Federal agency for use in a
matching program.
The E-Government Act of 2002,9
requires Federal agencies to conduct a
Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for
new or substantially changed
technology that collects, maintains, or
disseminates information in an
identifiable form. No new or
substantially changed technology would
collect, maintain, or disseminate
information as a result of this rule.
Accordingly, FMCSA has not conducted
a PIA.
In addition, the Agency submitted a
Privacy Threshold Assessment (PTA) to
evaluate the risks and effects the
proposed rulemaking might have on
collecting, storing, and sharing
personally identifiable information. The
DOT Privacy Office has determined that
this rulemaking does not create privacy
risk.
I. E.O. 13175 (Indian Tribal
Governments)
This rule does not have Tribal
implications under E.O. 13175,
Consultation and Coordination with
Indian Tribal Governments, because it
does not have a substantial direct effect
on one or more Indian Tribes, on the
relationship between the Federal
Government and Indian Tribes, or on
the distribution of power and
responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian Tribes.
J. National Environmental Policy Act of
1969
FMCSA analyzed this proposed rule
pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.) and determined this action is
categorically excluded from further
analysis and documentation in an
environmental assessment or
environmental impact statement under
FMCSA Order 5610.1 (69 FR 9680),
Appendix 2, paragraph 6.h. The
categorical exclusion (CE) in paragraph
6.h. covers regulations and actions taken
pursuant to regulation implementing
procedures to collect fees that will be
charged for motor carrier registrations.
The proposed requirements in this rule
are covered by this CE.
K. Rulemaking Summary
As required by 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4), a
summary of this rule can be found in
the Abstract section of the Department’s
Unified Agenda entry for this
rulemaking at https://www.reginfo.gov/
public/do/eAgendaMain.
List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 367
Intergovernmental relations, Motor
carriers, Brokers, Freight Forwarders.
Accordingly, FMCSA proposes to
amend Title 49 CFR, subtitle B, chapter
III, part 367 as follows:
PART 367—STANDARDS FOR
REGISTRATION WITH STATES
1. The authority citation for part 367
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 13301, 14504a; and 49
CFR 1.87.
■
■
2. Remove and reserve § 367.20.
3. Revise § 367.40 to read as follows:
§ 367.40 Fees under the Unified Carrier
Registration Plan and Agreement for
Registration Year 2024.
TABLE 1 TO § 367.40—FEES UNDER THE UNIFIED CARRIER REGISTRATION PLAN AND AGREEMENT FOR REGISTRATION
YEAR 2024
Number of commercial motor vehicles owned or
operated by exempt or non-exempt motor carrier, motor
private carrier, or freight forwarder
Bracket
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
■
........................................................
........................................................
........................................................
........................................................
........................................................
........................................................
Fee per entity for
exempt or non-exempt
motor carrier, motor
private carrier, or
freight forwarder
0–2 .....................................................................................
3–5 .....................................................................................
6–20 ...................................................................................
21–100 ...............................................................................
101–1,000 ..........................................................................
1,001 and above ................................................................
$37
111
221
769
3,670
35,836
Fee per entity
for broker or
leasing company
$37
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
§ 367.50 Fees under the Unified Carrier
Registration Plan and Agreement for
Registration Years Beginning in 2025 and
Each Subsequent Registration Year
Thereafter.
4. Add § 367.50 to read as follows:
TABLE 1 TO § 367.50—FEES UNDER THE UNIFIED CARRIER REGISTRATION PLAN AND AGREEMENT FOR REGISTRATION
YEARS BEGINNING IN 2025 AND EACH SUBSEQUENT REGISTRATION YEAR THEREAFTER
Number of commercial motor vehicles owned or
operated by exempt or non-exempt motor carrier, motor
private carrier, or freight forwarder
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
Bracket
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
........................................................
........................................................
........................................................
........................................................
........................................................
Fee per entity for
exempt or non-exempt
motor carrier, motor
private carrier, or
freight forwarder
0–2 .....................................................................................
3–5 .....................................................................................
6–20 ...................................................................................
21–100 ...............................................................................
101–1,000 ..........................................................................
$46
138
276
963
4,592
9 Public Law 107–347, sec. 208, 116 Stat. 2899,
2921 (Dec. 17, 2002).
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Fee per entity
for broker or
leasing company
$46
............................
............................
............................
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 6 / Tuesday, January 9, 2024 / Proposed Rules
1059
TABLE 1 TO § 367.50—FEES UNDER THE UNIFIED CARRIER REGISTRATION PLAN AND AGREEMENT FOR REGISTRATION
YEARS BEGINNING IN 2025 AND EACH SUBSEQUENT REGISTRATION YEAR THEREAFTER—Continued
Bracket
Number of commercial motor vehicles owned or
operated by exempt or non-exempt motor carrier, motor
private carrier, or freight forwarder
B6 ........................................................
1,001 and above ................................................................
Fee per entity for
exempt or non-exempt
motor carrier, motor
private carrier, or
freight forwarder
44,836
Issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR
1.87.
Robin Hutcheson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2024–00262 Filed 1–8–24; 8:45 am]
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BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P
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Fee per entity
for broker or
leasing company
............................
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 9, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 1053-1059]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00262]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 367
[Docket No. FMCSA-2023-0268 RIN 2126-AC67]
Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: FMCSA proposes amendments to its 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. The fees for the 2025 registration year would be
increased above the fees for the 2024 registration year by an average
of 25.0 percent overall, with varying increases between $9 and $9,000
per entity, depending on the applicable fee bracket. The proposal is
based upon a recommendation from the UCR Plan.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 8, 2024.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Docket Number FMCSA-
2023-0268 using any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FMCSA-2023-0268/document. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Dockets Operations, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Dockets Operations, U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building,
Ground Floor, 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.
Fax: (202) 493-2251.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Kenneth Riddle, Director, Office
of Registration and Safety Information, FMCSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue
SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001, [email protected]. If you have questions
on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Dockets
Operations at (202) 366-9826.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FMCSA organizes this NPRM as follows:
I. Public Participation and Request for Comments
A. Submitting Comments
B. Viewing Comments And Documents
C. Privacy
II. Executive Summary
A. Purpose and Summary of the Regulatory Action
B. Costs and Benefits
III. Abbreviations
IV. Legal Basis
V. Background
VI. Discussion of Proposed Rulemaking
VII. Severability
VIII. Section-by-Section Analysis
IX. Regulatory Analyses
A. Executive Order (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
B. Congressional Review Act
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
D. Assistance for Small Entities
E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
F. Paperwork Reduction Act
G. E.O. 13132 (Federalism)
H. Privacy
I. E.O. 13175 (Indian Tribal Governments)
J. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
K. Rulemaking Summary
I. Public Participation and Request for Comments
A. Submitting Comments
If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this
NPRM (FMCSA-2023-0268), indicate the specific section of this document
to which your comment applies, and provide a reason for each suggestion
or recommendation. You may submit your comments and material online or
by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only one of these means.
FMCSA recommends that you include your name and a mailing address, an
email address, or a phone number in the body of your document so FMCSA
can contact you if there are questions regarding your submission.
To submit your comment online, go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FMCSA-2023-0268/document, click on this NPRM, click ``Comment,''
and type your comment into the text box on the following screen.
If you submit your comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them
in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for
copying and electronic filing.
FMCSA will consider all comments and material received during the
comment period.
Confidential Business Information (CBI)
CBI is commercial or financial information that is both customarily
and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of
Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from public disclosure.
If your comments responsive to the NPRM contain commercial or financial
information that is customarily treated as private, that you actually
treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive to the NPRM, it is
important that you clearly designate the submitted comments as CBI.
Please mark each page of your submission that constitutes CBI as
``PROPIN'' to indicate it contains proprietary information. FMCSA will
treat such marked submissions as confidential under the Freedom of
Information Act, and they will not be placed in the public docket of
the NPRM. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to Mr. Brian
Dahlin, Chief, Regulatory Evaluation Division, Office of Policy, FMCSA,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001 or via email at
[email protected]. At this time,
[[Page 1054]]
you need not send a duplicate hardcopy of your electronic CBI
submissions to FMCSA headquarters. Any comments FMCSA receives not
specifically designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket for
this rulemaking.
B. Viewing Comments and Documents
To view any documents mentioned as being available in the docket,
go to https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FMCSA-2023-0268/document and
choose the document to review. To view comments, click this NPRM, then
click ``Browse Comments.'' If you do not have access to the internet,
you may view the docket online by visiting Dockets Operations on the
ground floor of the DOT West Building, 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.
C. Privacy
DOT solicits comments from the public to better inform its
regulatory process, in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c). DOT posts these
comments, including any personal information the commenter provides, to
www.regulations.gov. This process is described in the system of records
notice (DOT/ALL 14--Federal Docket Management System (FDMS)), which can
be reviewed at https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/privacy/privacy-act-system-records-notices. The comments are posted without
edit and are searchable by the name of the submitter.
II. Executive Summary
A. Purpose and Summary of the Regulatory Action
Under 49 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) and (f)(1)(E)(ii), the
UCR Plan provides fee adjustment recommendations to the 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. 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 proposed in this NPRM, to increase by an average of 25.0
percent the annual registration fees established pursuant to the UCR
Agreement for the 2025 registration year and subsequent years.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The UCR Plan Board's recommendation (September 2023 Fee
Recommendation) was issued on September 27, 2023, and is available
in the docket for this rulemaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Costs and Benefits
The changes proposed in this NPRM would 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. While each motor carrier or other covered entity might realize
an increased burden, 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. The details of the amount of
increase to the annual UCR fee for each fee bracket, are included in
the discussion below in Section VI.
III. Abbreviations
CBI Confidential Business Information
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
CMV Commercial Motor Vehicle
DOT Department of Transportation
E.O. Executive Order
FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
FR Federal Register
NAICS North American Industry Classification System
NPRM Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
OMB Office of Management and Budget
PIA Privacy Impact Assessment
PTA Privacy Threshold Assessment
RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act
SBA Small Business Administration
SBREFA Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
Secretary Secretary of Transportation
UCR Unified Carrier Registration
UMRA Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
U.S.C. United States Code
IV. Legal Basis
This rulemaking would adjust 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. In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(1)(E)(i),
the statute provides for the UCR Plan to request an adjustment by the
Secretary of Transportation (the Secretary) when the annual revenues
are insufficient to provide the revenues to which the participating
States are entitled.
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 (49 U.S.C. 14504a(h)(4)).
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 or would be 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).
V. Background
This NPRM follows UCR adjustments for prior two registration years
that, collectively, reduced fees by an aggregate average of 37.3
percent. First, the 2022 final rule (Fees for the Unified Carrier
Registration Plan and Agreement, Sept. 1, 2022 (87 FR 53680)), as
corrected on September 8, 2022 (87 FR 54902) reduced the fees for 2023
by an average of 31.2 percent from the fees for 2022. The following
year, the 2023 final rule (Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration
Plan and Agreement, June 22, 2023 (88 FR 40719)) reduced the fees for
2024 by an additional average of 8.9 percent from the fees for 2023.
Both fee adjustment recommendations submitted by the UCR Plan, and
particularly the 2023
[[Page 1055]]
recommendation (for 2024 registration year fees), explicitly
anticipated a need to increase fees in, or around, the 2025 fee
registration year because the funds from excess collections that
required the 2 years of fee reductions, would be largely utilized. This
need for registration fee adjustments is unavoidable due to both the
statutory requirements for the UCR Plan and Agreement (as discussed
above) and the fluctuations in the number of entities registering with
the Plan.
The fee levels, actual and proposed, for the registration years
2019 to 2025 are shown in the following table:
Table 1--UCR Plan Fees--2019-2025
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bracket Number of CMVs 2019 2020-2022 2023 2024 2025
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................ * 0-2 $68 $59 $41 $37 $46
2............................ 3-5 204 176 121 111 138
3............................ 6-20 407 351 242 221 276
4............................ 21-100 1,420 1,224 844 769 963
5............................ 101-1000 6,766 5,835 4,024 3,670 4,592
6............................ 1001+ 66,072 56,977 39,289 35,836 44,836
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Also applies to brokers and leasing companies.
The proposed fees for 2025 are still less than the fees that were
in effect in registration years 2019-2022.
On September 27, 2023, the UCR Plan recommended to the Secretary
that FMCSA increase the fees for the 2025 registration year no later
than September 1, 2024, to allow collections to begin on October 1,
2024. As noted above, the recommendation and supporting documents are
available in the docket for this rulemaking. In addition to the fee
recommendation information from the UCR Plan, the submission also
included an explanation of the basis for the recommendation and the
procedures the UCR Plan followed in its development. This fee
recommendation also included an explanation of the methodology used
when calculating the fee, to facilitate public comment and allow
replication of the analysis in the UCR Plan's recommendation.
VI. Discussion of Proposed Rulemaking
This NPRM proposes to increase fees by an average of 25.0 percent
for the 2025 registration year, compared to the fees for 2024. The
proposed increase for each fee bracket is shown in the following table:
Table 2--UCR Plan Fees Proposed Increase From 2024 to 2025
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bracket Number of CMVs 2024 2025 Difference
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1............................................ * 0-2 $37 $46 $9
2............................................ 3-5 111 138 27
3............................................ 6-20 221 276 55
4............................................ 21-100 769 963 194
5............................................ 101-1000 3,670 4,592 922
6............................................ 1001+ 35,836 44,836 9,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Also applies to brokers and leasing companies.
This upward fee adjustment, which follows significant fee
reductions, had been anticipated and was discussed in the previous
rulemaking addressing fee adjustments for the 2024 registration
year.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The 2024 Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and
Agreement final rule was published on June 2023 (88 FR 40719).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The UCR Plan modified its methodology for developing the
recommendation from its most recent recommendations,\3\ as the previous
methodology using average collections was determined by the UCR Plan to
result in an over-collection of fees. The UCR Plan's recommendation now
uses the minimum of the historical monthly collections for the same
time periods in each of the prior 3-year periods to determine projected
collections, which the UCR Plan believes will yield a more accurate
result. This change in the methodology is explained more fully in the
UCR Plan's recommendation, which is available in the docket for this
rulemaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ As explained on page 3 of the 2025 Fee Change Proposal
submitted by the UCR Plan, this change in its Fee Recommendation
Policy was adopted by the board of directors of the Plan at its
meeting of July 27, 2023. See also 27Jul23 Board Minutes.pdf (prod-public-ucr-docs-board-minutes.s3.amazonaws.com).
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VII. Severability
The revised and new sections are not severable. This is so because
if the increased fees for 2025 are set aside, then the existing fee
levels must remain in effect to provide funds towards participating
States receiving their revenue entitlements during 2025. While the 2024
fees would not be sufficient to fully cover the 2025 State entitlements
and administrative costs, that revenue would be necessary to provide at
least some portion of the entitlements due to participating States.
VIII. Section-by-Section Analysis
FMCSA proposes to revise 49 CFR 367.40 (which was adopted in the
2023 final rule) so that the fees apply to registration year 2024 only.
A new Sec. 367.50 proposes to establish new increased fees applicable
beginning in registration year 2025, based on the recommendation
submitted by the UCR Plan in its September 2023 Fee Recommendation. The
fees in proposed new Sec. 367.50 would remain in effect for subsequent
registration years after 2025 unless revised by a future rulemaking.
FMCSA also proposes to remove 49 CFR 367.20, which set the fees for
2020, 2021 and 2022, as those fee amounts will not be necessary.
[[Page 1056]]
IX. Regulatory Analyses
A. Executive Order (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
FMCSA has considered the impact of this NPRM under E.O. 12866 (58
FR 51735, Oct. 4, 1993), Regulatory Planning and Review, E.O. 13563 (76
FR 3821, Jan. 21, 2011), Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,
E.O. 14094 (88 FR 29179, Apr. 11, 2023) Modernizing Regulatory Review,
and DOT's regulatory policies and procedures. The Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs, as stated in section 3(f) of E.O. 12866, as
supplemented by E.O. 13563 and amended by E.O. 14094, does not require
an assessment of potential costs and benefits under section 6(a)(3) of
that order. Accordingly, OMB has not reviewed it under that E.O.
The changes proposed by this rule would increase the registration
fees paid by motor carriers, motor private carriers of property,
brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies to the UCR Plan and
the participating States. While each motor carrier or other entity
would incur an increased burden, fees are considered by 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. By definition, transfers are not
considered in the monetization of societal costs and benefits of
rulemakings. The details of the amount of increase to the annual UCR
fee for each fee bracket, are included in the discussion above in
Section VI.
This rulemaking would establish increases in the annual
registration fees for the UCR Plan and Agreement. The entities affected
by this rule are the participating States, motor carriers, motor
private carriers of property, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing
companies. Because the State UCR revenue entitlements would remain
unchanged, the participating States would not be impacted by this rule.
The primary impact of this rule would be an increase in fees paid by
individual motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers,
freight forwarders, and leasing companies. The increase in fees for the
2025 registration year from the 2024 registration year fees (approved
on June 22, 2023 (88 FR 40179)) would be an average of 25.0 percent,
ranging from $9 to $9,000 per entity, depending on the number of
vehicles owned or operated by the affected entities.
B. Congressional Review Act
This rule is not a major rule as defined under the Congressional
Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801-808).\4\
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\4\ A major rule means any rule that OMB finds has resulted in
or is likely to result in (a) an annual effect on the economy of
$100 million or more; (b) a major increase in costs or prices for
consumers, individual industries, geographic regions, Federal,
State, or local government agencies; or (c) significant adverse
effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity,
innovation, or on the ability of United States-based enterprises to
compete with foreign-based enterprises in domestic and export
markets (5 U.S.C. 802(4)).
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C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., RFA), as
amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of
1996 (SBREFA),\5\ requires Federal agencies to consider the effects of
the regulatory action on small business and other small entities and to
minimize any significant economic impact. The term small entities
comprises small businesses and not-for-profit organizations that are
independently owned and operated and are not dominant in their fields,
and governmental jurisdictions with populations of less than 50,000 (5
U.S.C. 601(6)). Accordingly, DOT policy requires an analysis of the
impact of all regulations on small entities, and mandates that agencies
strive to lessen any adverse effects on these businesses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Public Law 104-121, 110 Stat. 857, (Mar. 29, 1996).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This rulemaking would directly affect the participating States,
motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers, freight
forwarders, and leasing companies. Under the standards of the RFA, as
amended by SBREFA, the participating States are not small entities.
States are not considered small entities because they do not meet the
definition of a small entity in section 601 of the RFA. Specifically,
States are not considered small governmental jurisdictions under
section 601(5) of the RFA, both because State government is not
included among the various levels of government listed in section
601(5), and because, even if this were the case, no State or the
District of Columbia has a population of less than 50,000, which is the
criterion by which a governmental jurisdiction is considered small
under section 601(5) of the RFA.
The Small Business Administration's (SBA's) size standard for a
small entity (13 CFR 121.201) differs by industry code. The entities
affected by this rule fall into many different industry codes. In order
to determine if this rule would have an impact on a significant number
of small entities, FMCSA examined the 2012 and 2017 Economic Census
data for two different North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS) industries: Truck Transportation (subsector 484) and Transit
and Ground Transportation (subsector 485).
As shown in the table below, the SBA size standards for the
national industries under the Truck Transportation and Transit and
Ground Transportation subsectors range from $19.0 million to $43.0
million in revenue per year. To determine the percentage of firms that
have revenue at or below SBA's thresholds within each of the NAICS
national industries, FMCSA examined data from the 2017 Economic
Census.\6\ In instances where 2017 data were suppressed, the Agency
imputed 2017 levels using data from the 2012 Economic Census.\7\
Boundaries for the revenue categories used in the economic Census do
not exactly coincide with the SBA thresholds. Instead, the SBA
threshold generally falls between two different revenue categories.
However, FMCSA was able to make reasonable estimates as to the
percentage of small entities within each NAICS code.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ U.S. Census Bureau. 2017 Economic Census. Table
EC1700SIZEEMPFIRM--Selected Sectors: Employment Size of Firms for
the U.S.: 2017. Available at: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/econ/economic-census/naics-sector-48-49.html (accessed Dec. 5,
2023).
\7\ U.S. Census Bureau. 2012 Economic Census. Table
EC1248SSSZ4--Transportation and Warehousing: Subject Series--Estab &
Firm Size: Summary Statistics by Revenue Size of Firms for the U.S.:
2012 Available at: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2012/econ/census/transportation-warehousing.html (accessed Dec. 5, 2023).
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The percentages of small entities with annual revenue less than the
SBA's threshold ranged from 96.3 percent to 100 percent. Specifically,
approximately 96.3 percent of Specialized Freight (except Used Goods)
Trucking, Long Distance (484230) firms had annual revenue less than the
SBA's revenue threshold of $34.0 million and would be considered small
entities. FMCSA estimates 100 percent of firms in the Mixed Mode
Transit Systems (485111) national industry had annual revenue less than
$29.0 million and would be considered small entities. The table below
shows the complete estimates of the number of small entities within the
national industries that may be affected by this rule.
[[Page 1057]]
Table 3--Estimates of Number of Small Entities
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SBA size Total Number of
NAICS code Description standard in number of small Percent of
millions firms entities all firms
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
484110.............................. General Freight $34.0 22,066 21,950 99.5
Trucking, Local.
484121.............................. General Freight 34.0 23,557 23,045 97.8
Trucking, Long
Distance, Truckload.
484122.............................. General Freight 43.0 3,138 3,050 97.2
Trucking, Long
Distance, Less Than
Truckload.
484210.............................. Used Household and 34.0 6,097 6,041 99.1
Office Goods Moving.
484220.............................. Specialized Freight 34.0 22,797 22,631 99.3
(except Used Goods)
Trucking, Local.
484230.............................. Specialized Freight 34.0 7,310 7,042 96.3
(except Used Goods)
Trucking, Long
Distance.
485111.............................. Mixed Mode Transit 29.0 25 25 100.0
Systems.
485113.............................. Bus and Other Motor 32.5 318 308 96.9
Vehicle Transit
Systems.
485210.............................. Interurban and Rural 32.0 309 302 97.7
Bus Transportation.
485320.............................. Limousine Service..... 19.0 3,706 3,694 99.7
485410.............................. School and Employee 30.0 2,279 2,226 97.7
Bus Transportation.
485510.............................. Charter Bus Industry.. 19.0 1,031 1,013 98.3
485991.............................. Special Needs 19.0 2,592 2,567 99.1
Transportation.
485999.............................. All Other Transit and 19.0 1,071 1,059 98.9
Ground Passenger
Transportation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Therefore, while FMCSA has determined that this rulemaking would
impact a substantial number of small entities, it has also determined
that the rulemaking would not have a significant impact on them. The
effect of this rulemaking would be to increase the annual registration
fee that motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, brokers,
freight forwarders, and leasing companies are currently required to
pay. The increase will be 25.0 percent on average, $9 to $9,000 per
entity, depending on the number of vehicles owned and/or operated by
the affected entities.
While the RFA does not define a threshold for determining whether a
specific regulation results in a significant impact, the SBA, in
guidance to government agencies, provides some objective measures of
significance that the agencies can consider using. One measure that
could be used to illustrate a significant impact is labor costs;
specifically, whether the cost of the regulation exceeds 1 percent of
the average annual revenues of small entities in the sector. Given that
entities owning between 0 and 2 CMVs would experience an increase of
$9, a small entity would need to have average annual revenue of less
than $900 to experience an impact greater than 1 percent of average
annual revenue. This is an average annual revenue that is smaller than
would be required for a firm to support one employee. The increased fee
amount and impact on revenue increase linearly depending on the
applicable fee bracket.
Consequently, I certify that the proposed action would not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
D. Assistance for Small Entities
In accordance with section 213(a) of SBREFA, FMCSA wants to assist
small entities in understanding this proposed rule so they can better
evaluate its effects on themselves and participate in the rulemaking
initiative. If the proposed rule would affect your small business,
organization, or governmental jurisdiction and you have questions
concerning its provisions or options for compliance, please consult the
person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Small businesses
may send comments on the actions of Federal employees who enforce or
otherwise determine compliance with Federal regulations to SBA's Small
Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombudsman (Office of
the National Ombudsman, see https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/oversight-advocacy/office-national-ombudsman) and the Regional Small Business
Regulatory Fairness Boards. The Ombudsman evaluates these actions
annually and rates each agency's responsiveness to small business. If
you wish to comment on actions by employees of FMCSA, call 1-888-REG-
FAIR (1-888-734-3247). DOT has a policy regarding the rights of small
entities to regulatory enforcement fairness and an explicit policy
against retaliation for exercising these rights.
E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1531-1538, UMRA)
requires Federal agencies to assess the effects of their discretionary
regulatory actions. The Act addresses actions that may result in the
expenditure by a State, local, or Tribal government, in the aggregate,
or by the private sector of $192 million (which is the value equivalent
of $100 million in 1995, adjusted for inflation to 2022 levels) or more
in any 1 year. Though this NPRM would not result in such an
expenditure, and the analytical requirements of UMRA do not apply as a
result, the Agency discusses the effects of this rule elsewhere in this
preamble.
F. Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule contains no new information collection
requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-
3520).
G. E.O. 13132 (Federalism)
A rule has implications for federalism under section 1(a) of E.O.
13132 if it has ``substantial direct effects on the States, on the
relationship between the national government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of
government.''
FMCSA has determined that this rule would not have substantial
direct costs on or for States, nor would it limit the policymaking
discretion of States. Nothing in this document preempts any State law
or regulation. Therefore, this rule does not have sufficient federalism
implications to warrant the preparation of a Federalism Impact
Statement.
H. Privacy
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005,\8\ requires the Agency
to assess the privacy impact of a regulation that will affect the
privacy of individuals. This NPRM would not require the collection of
personally identifiable information.
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\8\ Public Law 108-447, 118 Stat. 2809, 3268, note following 5
U.S.C. 552a (Dec. 4, 2014).
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[[Page 1058]]
The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) applies only to Federal agencies
and any non-Federal agency that receives records contained in a system
of records from a Federal agency for use in a matching program.
The E-Government Act of 2002,\9\ requires Federal agencies to
conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for new or substantially
changed technology that collects, maintains, or disseminates
information in an identifiable form. No new or substantially changed
technology would collect, maintain, or disseminate information as a
result of this rule. Accordingly, FMCSA has not conducted a PIA.
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\9\ Public Law 107-347, sec. 208, 116 Stat. 2899, 2921 (Dec. 17,
2002).
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In addition, the Agency submitted a Privacy Threshold Assessment
(PTA) to evaluate the risks and effects the proposed rulemaking might
have on collecting, storing, and sharing personally identifiable
information. The DOT Privacy Office has determined that this rulemaking
does not create privacy risk.
I. E.O. 13175 (Indian Tribal Governments)
This rule does not have Tribal implications under E.O. 13175,
Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, because
it does not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian
Tribes, on the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian
Tribes, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities between
the Federal Government and Indian Tribes.
J. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
FMCSA analyzed this proposed rule pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and
determined this action is categorically excluded from further analysis
and documentation in an environmental assessment or environmental
impact statement under FMCSA Order 5610.1 (69 FR 9680), Appendix 2,
paragraph 6.h. The categorical exclusion (CE) in paragraph 6.h. covers
regulations and actions taken pursuant to regulation implementing
procedures to collect fees that will be charged for motor carrier
registrations. The proposed requirements in this rule are covered by
this CE.
K. Rulemaking Summary
As required by 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(4), a summary of this rule can be
found in the Abstract section of the Department's Unified Agenda entry
for this rulemaking at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain.
List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 367
Intergovernmental relations, Motor carriers, Brokers, Freight
Forwarders.
Accordingly, FMCSA proposes to amend Title 49 CFR, subtitle B,
chapter III, part 367 as follows:
PART 367--STANDARDS FOR REGISTRATION WITH STATES
0
1. The authority citation for part 367 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 13301, 14504a; and 49 CFR 1.87.
0
2. Remove and reserve Sec. 367.20.
0
3. Revise Sec. 367.40 to read as follows:
Sec. 367.40 Fees under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and
Agreement for Registration Year 2024.
Table 1 to Sec. 367.40--Fees Under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement for Registration Year
2024
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of commercial motor
vehicles owned or operated Fee per entity for
by exempt or non-exempt exempt or non-exempt Fee per entity
Bracket motor carrier, motor motor carrier, motor for broker or
private carrier, or freight private carrier, or leasing company
forwarder freight forwarder
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B1...................................... 0-2........................ $37 $37
B2...................................... 3-5........................ 111 ................
B3...................................... 6-20....................... 221 ................
B4...................................... 21-100..................... 769 ................
B5...................................... 101-1,000.................. 3,670 ................
B6...................................... 1,001 and above............ 35,836 ................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0
4. Add Sec. 367.50 to read as follows:
Sec. 367.50 Fees under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and
Agreement for Registration Years Beginning in 2025 and Each Subsequent
Registration Year Thereafter.
Table 1 to Sec. 367.50--Fees Under the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement for Registration Years
Beginning in 2025 and Each Subsequent Registration Year Thereafter
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of commercial motor
vehicles owned or operated Fee per entity for
by exempt or non-exempt exempt or non-exempt Fee per entity
Bracket motor carrier, motor motor carrier, motor for broker or
private carrier, or freight private carrier, or leasing company
forwarder freight forwarder
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B1...................................... 0-2........................ $46 $46
B2...................................... 3-5........................ 138 ................
B3...................................... 6-20....................... 276 ................
B4...................................... 21-100..................... 963 ................
B5...................................... 101-1,000.................. 4,592 ................
[[Page 1059]]
B6...................................... 1,001 and above............ 44,836 ................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.87.
Robin Hutcheson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2024-00262 Filed 1-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P
