A Few Thoughts About The UCR Program So Far

Unregistered Carriers on 9/10/2009 - 2122
Unregistered Carriers on 9/11/2009 - 2097
New Adds To Our Unregistered List - 32
New Registrations - 27

Today's post is probably going to sound more like an OpEd piece than most of my other posts.

I've been reading some of the articles in the trade mags, and I don't care what anybody says, I'm willing to look them right in the eye and tell them I feel perfectly good about the UCR program, about the way the program has come together, about the way the program is working, about the way we're upholding our commitment to the UCR program, and about the contribution we're making to Motor Carrier regulation and safety. And, since we are a regulatory agency, we understand a little bit about where motor carrier regulation has been, where it is now ... and maybe even a little bit about where it's headed. No apologies will be forthcoming from this corner of the room about UCR.

Just for the record, I think the UCR program is working exactly the way the people who wrote the proposed legislation said it should work --- except for that pesky intrastate vehicle exemption - which, to my recollection, was never contemplated by any of the aforementioned folks - and the inclusion of trailers - who the heck knows where that came from??? And, back when the legislation was being crafted, EVERYBODY around the table - including industry representatives - agreed (or at least paid significant lip service to the idea) that the States should receive every penny they received under SSRS and the intrastate fees levied upon interstate carriers. Nobody at that time seemed to think that $100 MM generated under those programs was excessive. The goal was to get rid of that "awful" SSRS program - which, by the way, I thought we also did a TERRIFIC job on - and get to the Promised Land --- Unified Carrier Registration! And I don't remember a single voice saying that the States weren't "working hard enough" to earn their $100MM.

My concern is that "we" have either forgotten - or are attempting to rewrite - the very context out of which UCR was born ... just because the program is working!! When it comes to the UCR program, we got what we asked for - with a couple of Congressional "tweaks" - and I, for one, like what we've got!