November 2013 • 33
FMCSA Announces
17 Minor Rule Changes
By Matthew Wrobel, Foley Services
WHILE THE REST OF THE GOVERNMENT WAS
shut down, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration quietly issued a large number
of small rule changes to comply with this
summer’s MAP-21 Transportation bill.
Below are the 17 rule changes FMCSA
has made to follow the new charter.
1. SAFETY FITNESS OF NEW OPERATORS
The New Entrant Safety Audit period
has been shortened from 18 months to 12
months. For bus carriers, the New Entrant
Safety Audit will occur within 120 days of
registration.
2. INCREASED PENALTIES FOR
OPERATING WITHOUT REGISTRATION
Penalties have been greatly increased.
New penalties include $1,000 for record
keeping violations and $10,000 for registra-
tion violations.
3. REVOCATION OF REGISTRATION
AND OTHER PENALTIES FOR FAILURE
TO RESPOND TO SUBPOENA
Carriers that ignore subpoenas or
FMCSA agency orders to appear or testify
now face fines of $1,000 to $10,000.
4. FLEETWIDE OUT OF SERVICE
ORDER FOR OPERATING WITHOUT
REQUIRED REGISTRATION
Previously, if a carrier operated without
authority or outside of the scope of its
authority the individual vehicle used would
be placed out-of-service. Now the entire
fleet will be shut down.
5. STATE REPORTING OF FOREIGN
COMMERCIAL DRIVER CONVICTIONS
The States are now required to report
convictions of foreign drivers to FMCSA.
They will also have to report unlicensed
drivers operating CMVs and non-CMVs.
6. AUTHORITY TO DISQUALIFY
FOREIGN COMMERCIAL DRIVERS
The criteria to disqualify foreign drivers
are now the same as domestic drivers.
7. REVOCATION OF FOREIGN MOTOR
CARRIER OPERATING AUTHORITY FOR
FAILURE TO PAY CIVIL PENALTIES
FMCSA can now revoke a foreign carrier’s
authority for failing to pay civil penalties.
8. EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES
Employers are now responsible for
drivers using a suspended, canceled or
revoked CDL if they knew or should have
reasonably known of the invalid license.
9. INSPECTION DEMAND AND
DISPLAY OF CREDENTIALS
Employees of states that receive Motor
Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)
can now inspect certain equipment and
records.
10. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF
OPERATION OUT OF SERVICE ORDERS
Violating an out of service order now
carriers a $25,000 penalty.
11. INCREASED PENALTIES FOR
EVASION OF REGULATIONS
“Willful” violations will now be fined at
$2,000 to $5,000 for a first time offense and
$2,500 to $7,000 for subsequent violations.
12. VIOLATIONS RELATING TO CMV SAFETY
REGULATION AND OPERATORS
FMCSA can no longer consider ability to
pay when assessing penalties against a carrier.
13. EMERGENCY DISQUALIFICATION
FOR IMMINENT HAZARD
The definition of “imminent hazard” now
includes any vehicle, employee or CMV that
increases the likelihood of serious injury or
death if not discontinued immediately.
14. MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Municipal and local governments can
now be members of MCSAP.
15. WAIVERS, EXEMPTIONS
AND PILOT PROGRAMS
The home state of a person granted an
exemption must inform roadside enforce-
ment of the exemption. Additionally, pilot
programs will no longer be published in the
Federal Register.
16. FINANCIAL SECURITY OF BROKERS
AND FREIGHT FORWARDERS
As previously reported, the final rule
officially sets the minimum broker amount
at $75,000.
17. CIVIL PENALTIES
Violations of the Hazmat rules deemed
likely to cause “death, serious illness or
severe injury” now carry a penalty of
$175,000. Other hazmat violations now
carry a maximum penalty of $75,000.
NEW E15 VEHICLES
The Tier 3 standards would change the
“vehicle certification fuel” to E15 (gaso-
line that is 15 ethanol). By changing the
vehicle’s certification fuel, new cars would
be certified to run on E15, which is sort of a
backdoor way of mandating that car engines
be designed to run on the fuel.
EPA has approved E15 for cars of recent
years, but automakers disagree and are con-
cerned that the cars might have E15-related
problems that they would be liable for.
What about our older vehicles? Not
everybody plans on buying a new car in the
next three years. Will E15 cause even more
problems for small engines such as boat
engines, lawn mowers, etc.?
The new standards would limit green-
house gas (GHG) emissions from light
and medium duty passenger vehicles to 30
milligrams per mile by 2025, from the cur-
rent 160 milligrams per mile requirement.
It would also limit volatile organic com-
pound and nitrogen oxide emissions from
heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans to
178-247 milligrams per mile, depending on
the type of vehicle. In addition, the proposed
rule would limit evaporative emission limits
for both passenger and heavy-duty vehicles.
EPA is also proposing to extend the
vehicle’s compliance period during which
the standards apply from 120,000 miles to
150,000 miles.
Although any changes to the proposal
are unlikely, we’ll have to wait for the final
rule in February to see.
Fleet Management
