Minnesota stands to lose more than $20 million in federal highway funds next year because its system of licensing commercial truck drivers violates federal regulations.
An audit of the state's commercial driver's license program found that it could fail to screen out drivers convicted of drunken driving and other criminal offenses, potential terrorists planning to transport hazardous materials without passing federal scrutiny, or applicants fraudulently seeking a license -- under an alias, for example.
While the state's Department of Public Safety is working to address those failures, a separate issue is putting the federal funding in jeopardy. The department has not demonstrated the ability to share data electronically, rather than on paper, with the federal government and other states.
Calling compliance a "top technical priority," state officials say they are confident of meeting a September 2008 deadline to complete testing of the new system or risk forfeiting the funding, which is used for highway improvements.
"The real story is, come next September, if they have it completed or not," said Dan Drexler, division administrator for the federal program that monitors motor carrier safety.
Penalty could double
Minnesota is one of 10 states failing to comply with the regulations. If the problems are not corrected within the next two years, the funding penalty would double to $42 million a year.
The threat of losing the federal highway money comes as the state struggles with funding for its roadways and bridges.
After the veto of two transportation funding bills by Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the collapse of the I-35W bridge, transportation funding is expected to be the main focus of the 2008 Legislature.
The prospect of losing millions in federal funding is likely to add further heat to what is already expected to be an acrimonious debate.
Continued failure to meet the federal standards could produce an even more serious outcome. The state's commercial driver's license program could be decertified and the licenses of Minnesota's thousands of commercial truckers would not be recognized elsewhere in the country.
While decertification is unlikely if the state shows good faith in its efforts to correct problems, the economic impact, were it to happen, would be enormous.
"If Minnesota's [commercial drivers' licenses] were not recognized elsewhere that would be a huge problem for Minnesota truck drivers and the Minnesota trucking industry," said John Hausladen, president of the Minnesota Trucking Association.
The regulations were established as part of a federal law passed in 1999 that was designed to reduce large-truck crashes. It requires more vehicle and driver inspections, stronger enforcement and more effective testing and data collection. As an incentive to comply, states are threatened with the loss of up to 5 percent of their federal highway funds the first year and up to 10 percent for the second and subsequent years if they programs fail to pass muster.
In a September letter to Gov. Tim Pawlenty and others, federal officials warned that Minnesota was in "substantial non-compliance" of the federal standards because it had not passed the required test for sending and receiving data electronically to and from the federal government and other states.
Pat McCormack, the state's director of driver and vehicle services, said the current system dates back to the early 1980s and cannot communicate correctly with other states and the federal system.
"We've tried very hard to comply with the letter of the law," McCormack said. She said she was confident the testing could be completed before the deadline, given new resources being devoted to the problem.
Fixing other problems
While the failure to communicate properly with other systems threatens the federal funding, the audit also raises questions about Minnesota's ability to comply with other provisions of federal regulations, including improving monitoring of violations, checking for fraud and completing background checks for out-of-state license transfers.
McCormack said the department proposed a number of initiatives that would have addressed those concerns last year but they were tied up in a transportation policy bill that failed to pass during the last legislative session.
Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said the threat of losing federal funding now "raises the stakes of the debate."
"The only thing that's going to help is to have some additional resources and we haven't been very successful in being able to provide that. This is more of a failure of leadership, especially the administration," Murphy said. "We're asking them to do very complex transactions and they just don't have the proper equipment to do it. If we're able to pass a transportation funding package this year we'll be able to get them on the road to recovery."
Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636
