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State Harmonization of Trucking Requirements

• Jul 23, 2020

Research Description

The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and it’s 4 regional bodies of NASTO, MAASTO, SASHTO and WASHTO, have worked on potential harmonization of differences between states on this subject for many years. Federal representatives have also sat with these bodies to seek solutions that could be promoted by the federal sector. There have been some agreements by the regional organizations to harmonize in their own region, but nothing that covers all regions. Industry organizations, like the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA), have also worked together with the states and still have not found the harmonizing solution, with exception .

One way to help fix these differences and still have them under state control is through an interstate compact. Although the idea of an interstate compact has been discussed it never got serious attention in the AASHTO meetings. Interstate compacts consist of an agreement by 2 or more states, established by their state legislatures. Interstate compacts have been a tool for state agreements before the establishment of the federal government and are referenced in Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution. They also may require the consent of the US Congress

Registration and titling of vehicles, and licensing of drivers are 3 of those requirements. Taxation is another. There are 4 compacts are already in operation that have a relationship to trucking. They are the international Registration Plan (IRP), (see APPENDIX B) the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA), the Driver License Compact and a Vehicle Title compact. All have been in operation for more than 35 years, and the IRP and IFTA agreements include 49 States and the 10 Provinces of Canada.

The information system technology that supports IRP is AAMVAnet, developed by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), an association’s information technology network tying all the states and Provinces of Canada together. This could also possibly be used for sharing data to harmonize other trucking requirements.

Additional Supporting Information

States sharing inspection information with sister states will free those states from detaining trucks that have already been inspected. AZ and UT already share information at the St. George UT facility. The St. George site is also only 70 miles away from a planned site near Las Vegas NV. The truck traffic coming down that I-15 corridor is headed mostly to the Ports of LA and LB. An agreement with UT can save NV funding on the I-15 site they have planned. NV can also help CA with inspection information on trucks moving through South Las Vegas on I-15 at Baker, Barstow, or Victorville, CA. The connection with CA is being explored under a current project supported by NV.

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Submitted By

Michael Onder

C3 Consulting LLC

703-598-4950

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