How Simple Mistakes Become Costly

49 CFR 1022. What is it? What should I expect?

In case you didn’t know, 49 CFR 1022 refers to the Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment. The Surface Transportation Board (board) has issued its final rule adjusting the annual inflation for 2018-2019 pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.

Again, you may be asking yourself, but how does this affect me? More than likely it will not because you get all your up to date information from Transportation Compliance Associates, use their on-site facility audits, and take advantage of their user portal with multiple solutions to ensure 100 percent compliance. If you don’t already use our services, you’re in luck! We are offering a FREE! NO HASSEL CONSULTAION! to help you achieve all your safety and compliance goals. You can call us at (724) 899-4100 or use or chat option in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.

Anyways back to the Final Rule. In accordance with the 2015 Act, the annual adjustment is calculated by multiplying each current penalty by the cost-of-living adjustment factor of 1.02522, which reflects the October 2017-2018 Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Listed below are some highlights of the penalty adjustments:

Rail Carrier Civil Penalties

49 U.S.C 11901(a) Unless otherwise specified, maximum penalty for each knowing violation under this part and each day increased from $7,791 to $7,987 (an increase of $196).

Motor and Water Carrier Civil Penalties

49 U.S.C 14901(a) minimum penalty for each violation and for each day increased from $1,066 to $1,093 (an increase of $30)

Pipeline Carrier Civil Penalties

49 U.S.C 16101(a) minimum penalty for violation of this part, for each day increased from$7,791 to $7,987 (an increase of $196).

Keep in mind this Final Rule went into effect December 31, 2018 and will only effect penalties levied after the December 31, 2018.  For a full review of the Final Rule click HERE.