The Small Business in Transportation Coalition ("SBTC") 501(c)(6) national trucking trade association, operating through Truckers.com, SmallTransportation.org & TruckerVote.com, filed a "Petition for Review" (Court of Appeals Docket #: 26-1297) on October 20, 2026 of a September 1, 2026 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) final rule with the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pursuant to the Hobbs Act. According to the court filing, SBTC challenges the new registration fee rule on the basis that the UCR System Plan and Agreement was never lawfully established by regulation as required by 49 USC 13908 of the UCR Act of 2007. The court filing also reveals SBTC is seeking an order terminating FMCSA's pattern and practice of releasing truckers' personally-identifiable information including social security numbers to the unlawfully operating UCR System Plan in violation of the Privacy Act and FMCSA's own data release policy. SBTC is represented by attorney Laurence L. Socci, Esq.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Small Business in Transportation Coalition ("SBTC") 501(c)(6) national trucking trade association, operating through Truckers.com, SmallTransportation.org & TruckerVote.com, filed a "Petition for Review" (Court of Appeals Docket #: 26-1297) on October 20, 2026 of a September 1, 2026 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) final rule with the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit pursuant to the Hobbs Act.
According to the court filing, SBTC challenges the new registration fee rule on the basis that the UCR System Plan and Agreement was never lawfully established by regulation as required by 49 USC 13908 of the UCR Act of 2007. The court filing also reveals SBTC is seeking an order terminating FMCSA's pattern and practice of releasing truckers' personally-identifiable information including social security numbers to the unlawfully operating UCR System Plan in violation of the Privacy Act and FMCSA's own data release policy.
The court filing alleges:
"Petitioner asks that this Court rule that Respondent FMCSA's 2027 UCR fee rule has been unlawfully promulgated and illegally codified at 49 CFR § 367.50 and order Respondents and their UCR administrator agents to cease and desist from any and all further unlawful fee collection and take action to prohibit enforcement of 49 CFR § 367.50, and any related regulation, by Federal, state, and local enforcement agents, until the Respondents issue a Direct Final Rule pursuant to 49 CFR § 389.39 as required by the UCR Act, one which lawfully establishes the UCR System Plan & Agreement.
Petitioner contends the Respondents are knowingly and intentionally enabling an unlawfully implemented interstate motor carrier fee collection system and are arbitrarily and capriciously releasing Petitioner's members' personally identifiable information, including Social Security Numbers, daily to that unlawful non-state government system in violation of the Privacy Act in connection with registration under the new 49 CFR § 367.50."
The court filing further states:
"Petitioner brings before this Court a connected Privacy Act matter insofar as the Respondents' pattern and practice of releasing truckers' personally-identifiable information (PII) in the form of social security numbers to the so-called UCR System Plan and its technical platform vendor without truckers' knowledge and consent, constitutes a clear violation of the Privacy Act since the data transfers to the unlawfully-established UCR System Plan cannot be reasonably be construed as constituting exempt "routine use," especially since such transfers violate Respondents' own duly-established original data transfer protocol limiting such transfers to bona fide UCR participating state government entities, a protocol which, according to the FMCSA FOIA office, has never since been changed."
In terms of the relief SBTC is seeking, the court filing states SBTC requests that the Court:
- Declare the 49 CFR § 367.50 fee rule, the UCR System Plan's Board of Directors, and the UCR Agreement unlawful and set the 2027 fee rule aside because Respondents failed to establish the UCR System Plan through rulemaking as required by Congress under 49 U.S.C. § 13908 of the UCR Act.
- Enjoin the Respondents and their agents and prohibit further collection of UCR fees and enforcement of the unlawful UCR fee rule codified at 49 CFR § 367.50, which was promulgated in violation of the explicit instructions of Congress set forth in 49 U.S.C. § 13908 of the UCR Act;
- Enjoin the Respondents and prohibit them from promulgating any further UCR fee rules until the federal online Unified Carrier Registration System is lawfully established pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 13908 of the UCR Act;
- Order the UCR System Plan Board of Directors be immediately disbanded and enjoin and prohibit Respondents from appointing further UCR Board Members to govern the illegal Federal online Unified Carrier Registration System Plan until the Federal online Unified Carrier Registration System Plan and Agreement are lawfully established pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 13908 of the UCR Act;
- Order Respondents to immediately issue a Direct Final Rule to lawfully establish the federal online Unified Carrier Registration System by promulgating the regulations Congress specifically mandated in 49 U.S.C. § 13908 of the UCR Act to minimize delay of the participating states receiving motor carrier safety enforcement monies from the intended UCR System Plan.
- Declare the daily release of truckers' PII by Respondents to the unlawfully-established UCR System Plan illegal under the Privacy Act and arbitrary and capricious because such releases are outside the scope of the Respondents' UCR-related data release policy.
- Order the Respondents to cease and desist from continuing to release truckers' PII data daily to the illegally-established UCR System Plan and its technical platform agents in the aftermath of a UCR data breach caused by administrators of the illegal federal online Unified Carrier Registration System;
- Any other relief the Court deems just and proper, including, but not limited to, attorney fees.
SBTC is represented by attorney Laurence L. Socci, Esq.
In a related matter, on October 13, 2026, the SBTC filed a Data Release Complaint with USDOT Office of the Inspector General.
Media Contact
James Lamb, Executive Director, Small Business in Transportation Coalition, 1 (202) 587-2751, [email protected], http://www.smalltransportation.org
SOURCE Small Business in Transportation Coalition
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