Congress Set to Revive SSRS
Fleets Could Face Extra Fees
By Sean McNally, Senior Reporter
This story appears in the July 30 print edition of Transport Topics.
The Single State Registration System for trucking, which supposedly was put to rest at the beginning of this year, could make a brief, albeit costly, return because of legislation expected to pass Congress this month.
SSRS apparently was revived as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is completing work on its replacement — the Unified Carrier Registration system — and could result in fleets having to pay two registration fees this year.
Congress mandated elimination of SSRS in 2005, but with its im-plementation stalled and states needing revenue to pay for certain safety programs, a joint committee revived the program. The program collects registration fees from fleets around the nation and redistributes them to the states.
However, Bob Pitcher, American Trucking Associations vice president for state laws and vice chairman of the UCR board, told Transport Topics the association may sue to keep the SSRS fees from being collected.
Pitcher said the language, which Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) pushed, was inserted as Congress finished work on the bill. It “seems to cut off SSRS, either at the first of next year or if DOT comes out with the rule, whichever happens first.”
Under that scenario, he said “it is not impossible” for a state to choose to try to collect both sets of fees.
“It is also certainly possible that a number of states may decide one or the other, and we hope most of them do UCR,” Pitcher said.
“It’s the worst possible scenario,” Rick Schweitzer, general counsel for the Na-tional Private Truck Council and a member of the UCR board, said of the bill, “and it’s entirely likely that the UCR is up and running before the end of the year, which means carriers are going to be subject to double taxation.”
Congress eliminated SSRS in its 2005 overall transportation law. SSRS collected registration from for-hire fleets.
The new UCR would collect fees, not just from for-hire fleets but also from private fleets and non-asset-based entities, such as brokers and forwarders.
In late May, FMCSA published the UCR board’s recommended charges, which would raise about the same annual amount SSRS would have generated — more than $100 million (6-4, p. 5).
Members of a combined House and Senate conference committee working on a bill to implement recommendations of the so-called 9/11 Commission included the SSRS provision in the package. The conference committee completed its work July 25, and both the full House and Senate were expected to vote on the package before taking their August recesses.
The new language replaced a provision inserted by Rockefeller, Rod Nofziger, director of government affairs for the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association, told Transport Topics.
Nofziger had called the Rockefeller language “worrisome” and added “there certainly is the potential” for double taxation.
“I was as surprised as anyone,” said David Hugel, deputy administrator of FMCSA and the agency’s representative on the UCR board, “We had not been in the loop on that.”
“If that piece of legislation were to go forward, it will have a fairly significant impact on the situation, which we’re still analyzing,” Hugel said.
Paying two sets of registration fees would be, “a significant burden to fleets, . . . particularly with the freight environment being the way it’s been,” said Paul Will, chief financial officer of Celadon Group.
“Certainly, the double system would be a big problem, and I think for obvious reasons,” said Chris Burruss, president of the Truckload Carriers Association, “but mostly because you’ll be forced to pay the same fee twice.”
State officials who use the funds from SSRS and would use the UCR funds to finance commercial vehicle enforcement activities, welcomed the extension of SSRS, even as UCR neared completion.
With neither system in place, the 38 states participating in SSRS and 37 states in UCR have been unable to obtain funds for enforcement this year.
“That’s fantastic news, and if that actually comes to fruition, it will provide a lifeline for Michigan and other states that depend on that revenue to fund our safety programs,” said Capt. Bob Powers of the Michigan State Police.
Michigan narrowly avoided layoffs of officers because it received extra federal funding.
“The downside of that was, we had to shift so many officers to border enforcement from other purposes. It was robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak,” he said. With SSRS funding on the way, it will allow the state to “keep a more balanced approach.”
Pitcher said FMCSA told the UCR board that the final rule on the fees could be out within the next month.
“They’re not ready yet, but they can be ready in a few weeks,” he said, noting that the board was waiting only for final approval of the fees by DOT.
“It’s just the fees. We need the fees,” Pitcher said.
This story appears in the July 30 print edition of Transport Topics.
The Single State Registration System for trucking, which supposedly was put to rest at the beginning of this year, could make a brief, albeit costly, return because of legislation expected to pass Congress this month.
SSRS apparently was revived as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is completing work on its replacement — the Unified Carrier Registration system — and could result in fleets having to pay two registration fees this year.
Congress mandated elimination of SSRS in 2005, but with its im-plementation stalled and states needing revenue to pay for certain safety programs, a joint committee revived the program. The program collects registration fees from fleets around the nation and redistributes them to the states.
However, Bob Pitcher, American Trucking Associations vice president for state laws and vice chairman of the UCR board, told Transport Topics the association may sue to keep the SSRS fees from being collected.
Pitcher said the language, which Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) pushed, was inserted as Congress finished work on the bill. It “seems to cut off SSRS, either at the first of next year or if DOT comes out with the rule, whichever happens first.”
Under that scenario, he said “it is not impossible” for a state to choose to try to collect both sets of fees.
“It is also certainly possible that a number of states may decide one or the other, and we hope most of them do UCR,” Pitcher said.
“It’s the worst possible scenario,” Rick Schweitzer, general counsel for the Na-tional Private Truck Council and a member of the UCR board, said of the bill, “and it’s entirely likely that the UCR is up and running before the end of the year, which means carriers are going to be subject to double taxation.”
Congress eliminated SSRS in its 2005 overall transportation law. SSRS collected registration from for-hire fleets.
The new UCR would collect fees, not just from for-hire fleets but also from private fleets and non-asset-based entities, such as brokers and forwarders.
In late May, FMCSA published the UCR board’s recommended charges, which would raise about the same annual amount SSRS would have generated — more than $100 million (6-4, p. 5).
Members of a combined House and Senate conference committee working on a bill to implement recommendations of the so-called 9/11 Commission included the SSRS provision in the package. The conference committee completed its work July 25, and both the full House and Senate were expected to vote on the package before taking their August recesses.
The new language replaced a provision inserted by Rockefeller, Rod Nofziger, director of government affairs for the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association, told Transport Topics.
Nofziger had called the Rockefeller language “worrisome” and added “there certainly is the potential” for double taxation.
“I was as surprised as anyone,” said David Hugel, deputy administrator of FMCSA and the agency’s representative on the UCR board, “We had not been in the loop on that.”
“If that piece of legislation were to go forward, it will have a fairly significant impact on the situation, which we’re still analyzing,” Hugel said.
Paying two sets of registration fees would be, “a significant burden to fleets, . . . particularly with the freight environment being the way it’s been,” said Paul Will, chief financial officer of Celadon Group.
“Certainly, the double system would be a big problem, and I think for obvious reasons,” said Chris Burruss, president of the Truckload Carriers Association, “but mostly because you’ll be forced to pay the same fee twice.”
State officials who use the funds from SSRS and would use the UCR funds to finance commercial vehicle enforcement activities, welcomed the extension of SSRS, even as UCR neared completion.
With neither system in place, the 38 states participating in SSRS and 37 states in UCR have been unable to obtain funds for enforcement this year.
“That’s fantastic news, and if that actually comes to fruition, it will provide a lifeline for Michigan and other states that depend on that revenue to fund our safety programs,” said Capt. Bob Powers of the Michigan State Police.
Michigan narrowly avoided layoffs of officers because it received extra federal funding.
“The downside of that was, we had to shift so many officers to border enforcement from other purposes. It was robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak,” he said. With SSRS funding on the way, it will allow the state to “keep a more balanced approach.”
Pitcher said FMCSA told the UCR board that the final rule on the fees could be out within the next month.
“They’re not ready yet, but they can be ready in a few weeks,” he said, noting that the board was waiting only for final approval of the fees by DOT.
“It’s just the fees. We need the fees,” Pitcher said.
