TSA issues final rule for commercial driver hazmat fees

TSA issues final rule for commercial driver hazmat fees    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued its final rule establishing a fee for security threat assessments that TSA is required to perform on individuals who apply for, or renew, a hazardous materials endorsement for a commercial driver's license.
   TSA is also establishing a fee for the collection and transmission of fingerprints and biographical information necessary to perform the security threat assessments.
   Homeland Security's Hazmat Program Rule requires a state to collect such data or let TSA do it. Whichever option is chosen, a state must operate under that option until Feb. 1, 2008. Seventeen states opted to collect and transmit fingerprints and applicant information. The remaining 34 states opted to allow a TSA agent to perform those services. As defined in the Program Rule, the term state' includes the District of Columbia.
   For information about which states have chosen which option, see www.tsa.gov/public/in.
   The total estimate fee range is $83-$103, TSA said in an explanation of its final rule.
   During a public comment period Nov. 10, TSA received 25 comments on its proposed fee increases from individual commercial drivers, labor organizations, trucking industry associations, state departments of motor vehicles, and associations representing state governments and the agricultural, chemical, explosives and petroleum industries.
   Labor groups and individual drivers commented that drivers should not bear the full cost of the threat assessments. TSA responded that whether the driver or the driver's employer pays the fees 'is a matter that must be resolved between drivers and their employers.'
   Several commenters stated that the estimated total fee range was unreasonable. TSA responded that the fees reasonably reflect costs for fingerprint checks, name-based security threat assessments, and checks of drivers' mental capacity, citizenship or immigration status. 'For these reasons, the costs associated with the hazmat program are significantly higher than the costs associated with the proposed security threat assessments for air cargo handlers,' the TSA said.
   Various states commented that they will play a role in providing to TSA information regarding the disposition of drivers' criminal prosecutions that may be missing from FBI records, and should be compensated by TSA for providing that data. TSA responded that nothing in the Hazmat Program Rule or this final rule prevents states from recovering those costs from applicants, if they are authorized to do so under their own laws.
   Industry associations asked the TSA to reconsider its decision to allow states to collect fingerprints and applicant information and charge a fee for those services that could be higher than TSA's own fees. TSA responded that it considered states to be 'essential partners' in the hazmat program. As such, states can essentially set whatever fees they want.
   In the final rule. TSA established the following fee structure: information collection and transmission fee: $38; threat assessment fee: $34; FBI fee: $22, for a total amount of $94. TSA said the fee structure will be reviewed every two years, and adjusted up or down as necessary.
   For payment eligibility questions, contact George J. Petersen in TSA's Hazmat Program Office, (571) 227-2215, e-mail George.J.Petersen@dhs.gov. For billing questions, contact Randall Fietz, (571) 227-2323, or e-mail TSA-Fees@dhs.gov.
   For an electronic copy of the complete final rule, visit www.tsa.dot.gov/public/inde or https://dms.dot.gov.search.