49 U.S.C. § 31309: Commercial driver’s license information system

The Secretary of Transportation (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall maintain an information system (referred to in this section as the “information system”) that will serve as a clearinghouse and depository of information about the licensing, identification, and disqualification of operators of commercial motor vehicles. The information system shall be coordinated with activities carried out under section 31106. The Secretary shall consult with the States in carrying out this section. information the Secretary considers appropriate to ensure identification of the operator; the name, address, and physical description of the operator; the social security account number of the operator or other number or information the Secretary considers appropriate to identify the operator; the name of the State that issued the license or learner’s permit to the operator; the dates between which the license or learner’s permit is valid; and whether the operator had a commercial motor vehicle driver’s license or learner’s permit revoked, suspended, or canceled by a State, lost the right to operate a commercial motor vehicle in a State for any period, or has been disqualified from operating a commercial motor vehicle. The information system must accommodate any unique identifiers required to minimize fraud or duplication of a commercial driver’s license or learner’s permit under section 31308(3). Information in the information system shall be made available and subject to review and correction in accordance with the policy developed under section 31106(e). to operate, maintain, develop, modernize, and enhance the information system; and to collect fees on behalf of the Secretary in accordance with subsection (e); and to use any fees collected in accordance with that subsection. The Secretary or the authorized operator, as applicable, may charge a reasonable fee for use of the information system. The total amount of fees collected under this subsection shall equal, as nearly as possible, the total amount necessary for the purposes and uses described in paragraph (3)(B). an appropriation account; or an account designated by the authorized operator; and be available only for the purposes of operating, maintaining, developing, modernizing, or enhancing, or any other use relating to, the information system, including for personnel and administration costs relating to the information system. Fees collected under this subsection shall remain available until expended for a purpose or use described in paragraph (3)(B). the Secretary shall not be charged a fee for access to, use of, or data in the information system; and the Secretary shall have access to fee statements on a quarterly basis. complies with applicable Federal information technology security standards; provides for the electronic exchange of all information including the posting of convictions; contains self auditing features to ensure that data is being posted correctly and consistently by the States; integrates the commercial driver’s license and the medical certificate; and provides a schedule for modernization of the information system. The plan shall be developed in consultation with representatives of the motor carrier industry, State safety enforcement agencies, and State licensing agencies designated by the Secretary. The plan shall specify that States will fund future efforts to modernize the information system. a date by which all States shall be operating commercial driver’s license information systems that are compatible with the modernized information system under this section; and that States must use the systems to receive and submit conviction and disqualification data. Availability and cost of technology and equipment needed to comply with subparagraph (A). Time necessary to install, and test the operation of, such technology and equipment. The Secretary shall implement the plan developed under subsection (a) and modernize the information system to meet the requirements of the plan. At the Secretary’s discretion, a State may use, subject to subsections (a)(2) and (b) of section 31313, the funds made available to the State under that section to modernize its commercial driver’s license information system to be compatible with the modernized information system under this section. The Secretary [of Transportation] may make a grant to a State or organization representing agencies and officials of a State in a fiscal year to modernize the commercial driver’s license information system of the State to be compatible with the modernized commercial driver’s license information system under section 31309 of title 49 , United States Code, if the State is in substantial compliance with the requirements of section 31311 of such title and this section, as determined by the Secretary. The Secretary shall establish criteria for the distribution of grants and notify each State annually of such criteria. A State may use a grant under this subsection only to implement improvements that are consistent with the modernization plan developed by the Secretary. A grant under this subsection to a State or organization may not be for more than 80 percent of the costs incurred by the State or organization in a fiscal year in modernizing the commercial driver’s license information system of the State to be compatible with the modernized commercial driver’s license information system under section 31309 of title 49 , United States Code. In determining these costs, the Secretary shall include in-kind contributions of the State. $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; and $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2011. The amounts made available under subsection (d) shall remain available until expended. Amounts authorized to be appropriated from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) by subsection (d) shall be available for obligation on the date of their apportionment or allocation or on October 1 of the fiscal year for which they are authorized, whichever occurs first. Approval by the Secretary of a grant with funds made available under subsection (d) imposes upon the United States a contractual obligation for payment of the Government’s share of costs incurred in carrying out the objectives of the grant.” The Secretary [of Transportation] shall carry out a pilot program in cooperation with 1 or more States to improve upon the timely exchange of pertinent driver performance and safety records data to motor carriers. determine to what extent driver performance records data, including relevant fines, penalties, and failures to appear for a hearing or trial, should be included as part of any information systems under the Department of Transportation’s oversight; assess the feasibility, costs, safety impact, pricing impact, and benefits of record exchanges; and assess methods for the efficient exchange of driver safety data available from existing State information systems and sources. The pilot program shall end on the last day of the 18-month period beginning on the date of initiation of the pilot program. After completion of the pilot program, the Secretary shall initiate, if appropriate, a rulemaking to revise the information system under section 31309 of title 49 , United States Code, to take into account the results of the pilot program.”