Title: An act relating to the Performance Registration Information Systems Management Program (PRISM).

Brief Description: Authorizing the Performance Registration Information Systems Management Program (PRISM).

Sponsors: By Senators Mulliken, Prentice and Horn; by request of Department of Licensing.

Brief Summary of Bill

• Requires a United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) number, a taxpayer identification number, and a Motor Carrier Identification Report from a motor carrier when applying for an original or renewal registration.

• Gives the Department of Licensing authority to refuse or suspend a registration if the motor carrier has been prohibited to operate by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 27 members: Representatives Murray, Chair; Rockefeller, Vice Chair; Simpson, Vice Chair; Ericksen, Ranking Minority Member; Jarrett, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Anderson, Armstrong, Bailey, Campbell, Clibborn, Dickerson, Edwards, Flannigan, Hankins, Hatfield, Hudgins, Kristiansen, Lovick, Mielke, Morris, Nixon, Romero, Schindler, Shabro, Sullivan, Wood and Woods.

The Performance and Registration Information Systems Management Program (PRISM) is a cooperative federal-state safety program developed to reduce commercial vehicle accidents through a comprehensive system of identification, education, awareness, safety monitoring and treatment. The PRISM includes the Commercial Vehicle Registration Process and the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Process (MCSIP).

The MCSIP is a monitoring system that houses current safety event data used to assess and monitor motor carrier safety performance. Within the MCSIP, carriers with potential safety problems are identified and prioritized for an on-site review. Carriers who do not improve their safety fitness record are given a federal operations out-of-service-order.

Participating states register motor carriers, engaged in interstate commerce, using their unique USDOT number. States may then check the USDOT number with the federal program and deny registration or revoke registration if the carrier has a federal out-of-service- order safety status.

SB 5429 would require the following information when a motor carrier applies to the DOL for a registration: (1) the USDOT number of the registrant and the motor carrier responsible for the safety of the vehicle, if different; and (2) the taxpayer identification number of the registrant and motor carrier responsible for the safety of the vehicle, if different. At the time of fleet renewal, or at the time of vehicle registration, a motor carrier must also submit a completed Motor Carrier Identification Report (MCS-150), if required by the DOL.

The bill also gives the DOL the authority to refuse to register, or to suspend the registration of, a motor carrier, if the motor carrier has been prohibited from operating, under federal law, by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: This is seen as a public safety issue. By authorizing the DOL to revoke or deny registration to a motor carrier that has been issued an out of service order by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Washington highways will be safer.

Testified: Fred Fakkema, Washington State Patrol; and Robert Smith, Department of Licensing.