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FMCSA Ups the Ante with Hefty Fines for Trucking Violations
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently made a significant announcement regarding an annual fine increase for trucker regulation violations.
This adjustment is set to take effect on December 28, 2023, once the Final Rule is officially published in the Federal Register. As mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015, all federal agencies, including the FMCSA, must escalate fines yearly to account for inflation.
On November 2, 2015, the President signed into law the 2015 Act, which amended the FCPIAA, to improve the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. The 2015 Act requires Federal agencies to: (1) adjust the level of civil monetary penalties with an initial “catch-up” adjustment through an interim final rule (IFR); and (2) make subsequent annual adjustments.
The 2015 Act directed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to issue guidance on implementing the required annual adjustment no later than December 15 of each year.[1] OMB released this required guidance in OMB Memorandum M–24–07, available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-for-agencies/memoranda/, which provides instructions on how to calculate the 2024 annual adjustment. To derive the 2024 adjustment, the Department must multiply the maximum or minimum penalty amount by the percent change between the October 2023 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI–U) and the October 2022 CPI–U. In this case, as explained in OMB Memorandum M–24–07 the percent change between the October 2023 CPI–U and the October 2022 CPI–U is 1.03241.[2]
The full final rule can be found on the Federal Register website.