WASHINGTON Faced with a revolt by the 36 states that were members of the Single State Registration System, the federal government finally took action late last month to approve the program that will replace the SSRS.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued the final rule that sets the 2007 fees that bus and truck operators and other entities will pay under the new Unified Carrier Registration Agreement, successor to the Single State Registration System.

The rule was effective on the day it was issued last month.

The fees and fee structure are unchanged from those recommended to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation last spring by the UCRA board of directors.

The fees for interstate bus and truck companies, as well as others that operate commercial motor vehicles are set out in six brackets determined by the number of vehicles owned or operated by the entity subject to the fees, as reported on the Form MCS-150 last filed with FMCSA.

Entities with 0 to 2 vehicles are to pay $39 for 2007; those with 3 to 5 pay $116; those with 6 to 20 pay $231; those with 21 to 100 pay $806; those with 101 to 1,000 pay $3,840, and those with more than 1,000 commercial motor vehicles are to pay $37,500 for 2007.

Interstate brokers and leasing companies that do not operate motor vehicles are to pay $39.

Its expected that states will begin implementing the new system in a matter of weeks.

When the Single State Registration System died at the first of the year, the Unified Carrier Registration System had not yet been implemented, so the 36 states that are members of the SSRS lost the millions of dollars in revenue generated by the program.

That money is used to fund a number of programs but primarily helps pay for state commercial vehicle safety efforts. All but three of the states received more than $1 million annually, with Michigan getting more than $7.5 million, and more than two-thirds of the states getting more than $2 million each.

This summer, the states began screaming at Congress and USDOT policy makers to get in gear and get the Unified Carrier Registration System approved and moving. Last month, Congress passed a law that gave USDOT until Sept. 1 to approve the new fees or states would be allowed to resurrect the SSRS. (See Aug. 15 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

The Bush Administration acted and got the rule with the UCRA fees out the door before the deadline.

The process and timetable to be used by states to implement the Unified Carrier Registration System is expected to vary, but the administration of the program is likely to be fairly uniform nationwide.

Like SSRS, UCRA is a base-state system, and bus and truck operators will pay their fees through their base state. Operators subject to UCRA may expect to receive a notice from their base state within the next few weeks outlining the program and fees and explaining what they need to do to register for UCRA and how to pay the fees for 2007.

Its expected UCRA registration and payment of fees may be accomplished on-line through a single national Web-based system developed and hosted by the Indiana Department of Revenue on behalf of all the participating UCRA states.

The system could be ready for business about the middle of this month.

If an operator prefers, it will be able to register and pay its fees directly to its base state.

The Federal Register notice announcing the new system can be found at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/E7-16482.htm.