Legislative Update – DOT Special Permit User Fee Proposal Introduced and Defeated Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill to fund the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) activities for fiscal year 2012. As this legislation was first introduced before the committee, it included a new $600 user fee on all DOT Special Permit and Approval applications, including new applications, requests for party status, and renewals. In response, NACD signed a letter with other members of the Interested Parties for Hazardous Materials Transportation coalition in opposition to the fees. “Proposals to assess user fees on applicants for hazardous materials special permits and approvals are not fair or equitable. They are a hidden tax on companies that innovate and produce goods needed in the US economy which is struggling to recover. This initiative should be rejected,” stated NACD and the others in the letter. The debate ended on a positive note for the industry when Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) offered an amendment to strike the user fee proposal, which the Committee accepted.