FHWA9625.docx

FHWA Docket No. MC9625
FHWA, Room 4232
Office of the Chief Counsel
HCC10
400 7th St. SW
Washington, DC 20590
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC) is the state agency responsible for administration of the Single-State Registration Program, as well as other regulatory responsibilities regarding intrastate motor carriers.  The Idaho PUC is also a member of the National Conference of State Transportation Specialists (NCSTS), which will also be filing comments in this proceeding.  The IPUC strongly supports the comments filed by the NCSTS.
In addition to supporting the NCSTS comments, the IPUC makes the following specific points concerning policy issues.
1.The protection of the health, safety and welfare of citizens is a fundamental concern of government.  Idaho has a responsibility to its citizens to ensure that motor carriers are registered and identified, and are determined to be financially responsible, (i.e., capable of compensating the public for liability arising from personal injury or property damage).  Government cannot delegate this responsibility to the market place.
2.Government should strive to reduce the administrative burden on carriers subject to government regulation.  IPUC supports the development of a national on-line system to make it possible to share information among carriers, regulatory agencies, the public, shippers, law enforcement, and the insurance industry.  IPUC supports combining programs that can reasonably be consolidated, modernizing and simplifying forms, and to the extent possible in each state, implementing the one-stop-shopping concept for motor carrier licensing and regulatory activities.  IPUC supports vigorous enforcement of the requirement that motor carriers operate only when they are properly insured and proof of insurance is filed with the carrier’s base state.
3.If the protection of the public requires for-hire motor carriers to obtain and file proof of insurance, then it should also require private and exempt motor carriers to comply in a similar manner.  Idaho currently requires private and exempt carriers to obtain appropriate levels of insurance.
4.Each state has a unique role in the management of regulatory programs.  The authority to establish registration, enforcement and licensing programs is within the sovereign power of each state.  Idaho has already promulgated regulatory programs for motor carriers, including requiring filing of proof of insurance.  Idaho is closer to its citizens and closer to the motor carriers who are based within the state.  In addition, placing the motor carrier regulatory function within each state provides a direct link to the location where enforcement takes place.  Combining enforcement of insurance with other existing enforcement functions at the state level strongly supports decentralizing those functions.
5.New technology will add to the efficiency of the insurance filing requirements presently in place.  Idaho is establishing an electronic filing process.  This will make insurance filing less time consuming and will reduce costs for insurance companies and state regulators.
6.All states should be allowed to require motor carriers based in their states to register and file proof of insurance.  All carriers should be required to register and have proof of insurance filed.  Carriers in nonparticipating jurisdictions can select a base state just like they do now.  Idaho serves as the base state for carriers from Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming, and several Canadian provinces
7.NCSTS proposes the development of a federally authorized, base state, reciprocal information and registration system managed and implemented by the states according to federal standards.  Almost all motor carrier regulatory and tax programs are base state programs.  Base state programs are efficient because they allow each state to focus on carriers domiciled in that state and they avoid the need for a massive centrally maintained database.
8.IPUC favors combining the information and data elements from the four current systems into a single on-line system.  We believe that a single computer application could be developed that would allow those processes to be combined and would significantly reduce the burden on the motor carriers.  This process would require an annual renewal to collect the required fee, to support monitoring and enforcing insurance requirements, and updating carrier identifying information, such as name, address, telephone number and ownership.
9.IPUC also supports the concept of an electronic insurance filing system.  Such a system would eliminate the paper credential and substitute an on-line system where insurance companies would make filings directly and where enforcement agencies would have the ability to ascertain compliance of any carrier immediately.
10.Given years of experience in reciprocal, base state programs such as SSRS, the IPUC is well accustomed to developing or implementing standards established by federal agencies or by a state association.  Idaho routinely exchanges money and information with other states and works to resolve differences.  The IPUC prepares monthly, quarterly, and annual reports detailing funds received and disbursed to other states and providing operational and enforcement statistics and carrier information.
11.There must be a comprehensive system of enforcement if the public is to be protected from uninsured carriers.  Only the states are in position to provide this enforcement at the roadside.  There is little chance a federal police force will materialize to enforce these requirements.  How roadside enforcement is handled in each state varies, and the particular enforcement agency may differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but there is no doubt that enforcement is a critical component of an insurance program.  The states are the obvious choice to perform this function.  An on-line system would allow the base state to enter a message in the carrier’s file for all enforcement agencies nationwide, that this carrier is uninsured and that its vehicles should be stopped wherever they are found.  This would greatly reduce the incidence of uninsured trucking operations.  The states are the logical administrator of the new program because it is a short step to add the USDOT number and USDOT registration system to the existing SSRS framework.
12.The IPUC believes that it would be very inefficient to create an entirely new process.  The only logical program design is one that creates a base state program and assigns the running of it to the states.  The attached chart represents our vision of the system’s operation.
13.Congressional interest in devolution of national responsibilities to the states has not abated, and the NCSTS proposal is a logical extension of the policy of returning authority and responsibilities to the state level.
14.In FY 1995 Idaho received $533,209 in SSRS fees all of which were used to fund enforcement of safety and financial responsibility.
In summary, IPUC believes that consolidating the four aforementioned programs into one and establishing the management of them as a state function will provide greater accessibility to accurate information and assure real time delivery.  Electronic roadside enforcement imposes the least burden on the motor carrier and provides the best protection to the public, whether for-hire or private
Sincerely,
Ron Law
Administrator
Regulated Carrier Division
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