OTA Dispatch Issue 2 2018

9 www.ortrucking.org Issue 2 | 2018 interstate carriers to have proof of insurance before they enter the state (ORS 825.160). Under the new legislation, Oregon was preempted from requiring this separate insurance filing. The only way for ODOT to determine whether those carriers had the requisite insurance was through use of an alternate federal database. That insurance look-up function could be accomplished without Oregon joining UCRA. SAFETEA-LU provided for the repeal of SSRS on January 1, 2007 and included a prohibition against states reimposing similar fees in another form. The UCRA was designed to replace the revenues the states previously collected under SSRS (as well as similar fees a state may have imposed on private or exempt motor carriers and on interstate motor carriers for the annual renewal of these carriers’ intrastate operating rights). Only a state that participated in the UCRA would be allowed to continue to collect those revenues. However, the UCRA fees have a different basis, and the program is in many respects quite distinct from SSRS. The UCRA fees were to be set for all states by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, upon the recommendation by the UCRA Board, and not by the states individually, as was the case with SSRS fees. Not all states had been participating in the SSRS program. However, all states could elect to participate in UCRA. The new federal law provided that any state could choose to join, and the states that had not participated in SSRS would be limited to receive up to a ceiling of $500,000 annually in revenue from the UCRA program. Under SAFETEA-LU, the UCRA fees are set annually by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, following a recommendation from the UCRA Board as to what those fees should be. UCRA fees are set at a level calculated to raise the revenues the states participating in the UCRA had collected in the past from SSRS and from related regulatory programs, plus an allowance for the costs of administration of the UCRA program itself. States that opted to join UCRA needed to establish administrative mechanisms for collecting and enforcing the payment of those UCRA fees. Only regulated for-hire motor carriers had been covered by the Single State Registration System (SSRS). UCRA, on the other hand, requires all motor carriers required to register with the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), including private, for-hire, and exempt carriers, as well as brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies to pay fees. The number of commercial motor vehicles for purposes of determining a carrier’s UCRA fees is the number of commercial motor vehicles the carrier reported in the most recent FormMCS-150 it filed with FMCSA or the total number of commercial motor vehicles it owned or operated under long-term lease for the twelve-months ending on June 30 of the year ending immediately before the beginning of the UCRA registration year for which the fees are being determined. A commercial motor vehicle is one that is operated in commerce and has a gross vehicle weight or gross vehicle weight rating of at least 10,001 pounds or, in the case of a passenger vehicle, is one built to carry more than 10 persons, including the driver. It also includes a vehicle that transports hazardous materials in a quantity that requires placarding. It does not include, for this purpose, a vehicle that operates wholly intrastate. However, federal law now requires that a motor carrier or another entity covered by the UCRA must register annually for the UCRA and pay its fees at the same time. Like SSRS, the UCRA is a base-state system, under which a carrier or other entity subject to the UCRA fees pays these through its base state on behalf of all the participating states. As under SSRS, a carrier (or other entity’s) base state is the participating state in which it maintains its principal place of business. A carrier whose principal place of business is not in a participating state or is outside the United States may choose as its base a participating state in which it has an office or operating facility. Another option is to register and pay UCRA fees on the Unified Carrier Registration Portal located at www.ucr.in.gov/ucrHome.html Any entity that has a USDOT number and operates commercial trucks operating in interstate commerce must enroll. That would include in Oregon, for example, farmers. Oregon opted to not participate in UCRA and therefore Oregon-based interstate motor carriers need to attend to the requirement for UCRA registration using the Unified Carrier Registration Portal. Who files under UCRA? ` ` Motor carriers providing motor vehicle transportation in interstate commerce for compensation ` ` Motor private carrier (other than a motor carrier) transporting property by motor vehicle when the carrier is the owner or lessee of the property being transported and the property is being transported for sale, lease or rent or to further a commercial enterprise ` ` Brokers  ` ` Freight Forwarders or Leasing Companies What am I required to do? ` ` File an annual application; and ` ` Pay an annual fee. Am I required to carry a credential in the vehicle?  No. You are not required to carry any proof of compliance in the vehicle. You can carry the receipt for payment of the fees if you choose. How do I know if I’m registered?  You can check to see if you have registered for this program by viewing https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/ UCRQueryForm.aspx. Three years of data will be retained.