Motor Carrier Enforcement

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act') and by 42 U.S.C. 3751(a). The stated purposes of the Recovery Act are: to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; to assist those most impacted by the recession; to provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; and to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases. The Recovery Act places great emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars.

Among other things, it creates a new Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and a new website ' Recovery.gov ' to provide information to the public, including access to detailed information on grants and contracts made with Recovery Act funds.

The Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program funded under the Recovery Act is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. Recovery JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system, from multi-jurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. Recovery JAG funded projects may address crime through the provision of services directly to individuals and/or communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice systems, processes, and procedures.

St. Clair County will use the Recovery Act JAG funds for its Motor Carrier Enforcement Project. St. Clair County is an international border crossing where Interstate 69 and Interstate 94 converge at Port Huron Township in the county. This is the third largest commercial border crossing in the United States and is in need of the enforcement action the county is proposing. The goals of this project are to protect the infrastructure of the federal, state, and county roadways and bridges by providing a mobile patrol to stop and inspect trucks for equipment, weight, and traffic violations. It is the projects goal to eliminate damage to and reduce repair costs associated with overweight trucks and to make the highways and roadways safer to travel by having all equipment on these trucks in proper working order and to bring into compliance those offenders by citing the violations and collecting fines to correct the behaviors of companies in violation of the laws and ordinances of the State of Michigan and St. Clair County. A newly created position of Motor Carrier Officer will not only provide the protection to the roadways, bridges, environment, and travelers, but will also augment the local law enforcement agencies in St. Clair County by providing expertise to these agencies when requested to assist with enforcement and provide them with a local resource for quick response both in the enforcement as well as informational sense. The additional benefit of the position will be the ability to conduct drug interdictions, inspections of vehicles smuggling illegal aliens, and to work with Federal and State agencies to combat these issues as well as the enforcement aspect as it relates to interstate/intrastate commerce. The grant will fund a salary, equipment, and training.

NCA/NCF