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Utah Administrative Code (Current through November 1, 2019) |
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R926. Transportation, Program Development |
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R926-17. Road Usage Charge Program |
| R926-17-1. Purpose and Authority |
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(1) Purpose. This rule is to administer the State's Road Usage Charge Program. (2) Authority. Utah Code Section 72-1-213.1 grants the Department authority to promulgate this rule. |
| R926-17-2. Definitions |
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(1) "Account manager" means an entity under contract with the Department to operate and manage the road usage charge program on its behalf. (2) "Alternative fuel vehicle" means the same as that term is defined in Section 41-1a-102. (3) "Chargeable miles" means the number of miles for which the RUC participant will be charged under the program parameters in place at the time the miles are driven. (4) "Department" means the Utah Department of Transportation. (5) "DMV" means the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles. (6) "Flat fee" means the additional registration fee applied to alternative fuel vehicles as defined in Utah Code Subsections 41-1a-1206(1)(h) and 1206(2)(b). (7) "Payment period" means the interval during which an owner/lessee is required to report mileage and pay the appropriate RUC fee according to the terms of the program. (8) "Program" means the RUC program established and described in this section. (9) "RUC" means "road usage charge". (10) "RUC fee" means the accrued amount owed to an account manager. It is calculated as the number of chargeable miles driven multiplied by the RUC rate. (11) "RUC participant" means the owner or lessee of an alternative fuel vehicle that is enrolled in the program. (12) "RUC rate" means the amount of money per mile driven that RUC participants are required to pay, and which has been approved by the Transportation Commission to be used in the program. (13) "Value-added services" means amenities that an account manager may want to offer RUC participants, but which are ancillary to the core RUC purpose of collecting and reporting miles driven. |
| R926-17-3. Enrollment, Voluntary Withdrawal and Removal Processes and Terms |
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(1) The Department will coordinate with the DMV and the account manager to notify owners or lessees of alternative fuel vehicles that they are eligible to enroll in the program as an alternative to paying the flat fee applicable to their vehicle. (2) The Department will provide a means of directing owners/lessees who want to enroll in the program to an account manager under contract with the Department that will manage all aspects of enrollment in the program. (3) Owners/lessees who want to enroll in the program must submit vehicle information that includes the license plate number and vehicle identification number (VIN) to the account manager for verification that the participant's vehicle is eligible for enrollment in the program. (4) RUC participants may withdraw a vehicle from the program at any time. (5) RUC participants who withdraw a vehicle prior to full completion of the current annual registration cycle must pay the flat fee amount applicable to that vehicle, less any RUC fees paid to date during that registration cycle. (6) The process for withdrawing from the program prior to completion of a full registration cycle is as follows: (a) RUC participant notifies the account manager that they wish to withdraw from the program. (b) RUC participant fulfills any terms in their user agreement related to return of electronic mileage collection devices. (7) RUC participants who complete a full registration cycle prior to withdrawing from the program, and have accrued a RUC fee amount less than the applicable annual flat fee, will not be required as a condition of withdrawal to pay the difference between the flat fee amount and the RUC fees they have already accrued. (8) RUC participants who withdraw after completing their full registration cycle will revert to paying the flat fee to the DMV until such time as they opt into the RUC program again. (9) Involuntary removal of RUC participants from the program is addressed in Section R926-17-8. |
| R926-17-4. RUC Participant Payment Methods, Periods, and Procedures |
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(1) RUC participants must provide electronic payment information and set up a prepaid wallet at enrollment. The wallet value will decrease as the value of miles accrues against the balance. A nominal amount, which will be agreed to by the RUC participant and account manager and stated in the user agreement, will be added by the RUC participant to the wallet once the balance drops below a predetermined minimum threshold. (2) Only electronic payments will be accepted. (3) Account managers will send RUC participants a monthly statement showing at a minimum miles driven, RUC fees accrued, and amount of money added to the wallet during the previous month. (4) Account managers will cease accruing RUC fees against a vehicle once the cumulative amount accrued for the current registration cycle is equal to the flat fee applicable to that vehicle type. Fee accrual will resume at the beginning of the next registration cycle if the RUC participant remains in the program. (5) Once a RUC Participant's total accrued RUC fee for the year is equal to their flat fee, the RUC Participant will no longer accrue additional RUC fees until the beginning of their new registration cycle if they remain in the program. (6) Penalties for violation of terms and conditions, if applicable, may still result in accrual of fees against a RUC participant's account even after the annual mileage cap has been reached. |
| R926-17-5. Mileage Reporting Mechanism Standards |
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(1) Account managers may offer various reporting mechanisms to RUC participants for collection of their mileage. All mechanisms must be approved by the Department prior to use by account managers. (2) Such mechanisms may include but are not limited to devices installed in cars, smartphone applications, embedded telematics, and odometer image capture. For mechanisms such as OBD-II devices and embedded telematics that may be able to support mileage collection either through location tracking or a simple report of the odometer reading, the Department may dictate its preferences through account manager contract terms. (3) Mileage reporting mechanisms will be capable of automatically transmitting mileage data directly to an account manager through wireless means. The program may not provide for any manual reporting of mileage by RUC participants. (4) The Department may dictate mileage aggregation and reporting frequencies (e.g. hourly, daily, monthly) through account manager contract terms. |
| R926-17-6. Privacy and Data Sharing Processes and Procedures |
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(1) All aspects of program operations will comply with the statutes related to privacy found in Utah Code Sections 63G-2-305 and 77-23c-102. (2) An account manager must explain activities involving collection and storage of location data to RUC participants as part of the enrollment process. (3) User agreements between account managers and RUC participants, must be approved by the Department prior to use and must require explicit consent for collection and storage of RUC participants' location data. (4) RUC participants will be able to view their data being collected and stored by the account manager. They may also dispute mileage charges that they consider to be erroneous. (5) RUC participants' location data and personal information is protected from public disclosure by the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). |
| R926-17-7. Security Processes and Procedures |
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The account manager will process all card payment data and transactions in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which applies to the electronic payment card industry as a whole. Automated clearing house payment data and transactions will be processed according to the rules published by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), which apply to the electronic payment card industry as a whole. |
| R926-17-8. User Agreements Between Account Managers and RUC Participants |
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(1) The Department must approve user agreements used by account managers to enroll RUC participants prior to usage of those agreements. (2) The user agreement will clearly explain location tracking, data retention, and privacy protection components of the program. It will also require explicit consent on the part of the participant to accept any terms related to tracking and retention. (3) The user agreement will include but is not limited to the following components: (a) Mileage reporting mechanism to be used for the vehicle being enrolled and commitment from the RUC participant to keep the mechanism operable at all times so that no interruptions in data collection and transmission occur. (b) Electronic payment mechanism chosen by the RUC participant, consent to have a bank account or credit card debited when the wallet balance drops below a defined minimum threshold, and commitment to keep payment information current while enrolled in the program. (c) Refund procedures for situations where a RUC participant completes a full registration cycle within the program but does not accrue enough mileage charges to consume the entire flat fee, thus leaving a positive wallet balance. (d) Requirements, if any, for return of mileage reporting devices to the account manager after a RUC participant is no longer enrolled. (e) Length of time that raw location data will be retained by the account manager. (f) Information about how data may be aggregated, anonymized, or shared. (g) Process for RUC participants to view their collected data and lodge a dispute if they believe charges have accrued to their accounts erroneously. (h) Processes and consequences of withdrawal from the program both prior to and after full completion of the current annual registration cycle applicable to the enrolled vehicle, as detailed in Section R926-17-3. (4) The user agreement will explain penalties associated with violation of its terms. Failure to comply with terms such as payment of RUC fees, return of devices (or payment for lost devices), or intentional tampering with mileage reporting mechanisms may result in the following enforcement actions: (a) An initial warning about the violation and steps for becoming compliant. (b) A penalty fee, which will be agreed to by the RUC participant and account manager and stated in the user agreement, will be assessed to the RUC participant's electronic wallet if a warning doesn't result in compliance. (c) Billing of the RUC participant's electronic wallet for all outstanding fees owed and removal from the program if compliance is still not achieved after penalty assessment. (d) Notification by the account manager to the DMV that a former RUC participant has unpaid fees owed to the account manager, and subsequent placement of a registration hold by the DMV on the formerly enrolled vehicle if the RUC participant's electronic payment information is invalid or does not have enough balance to successfully pay the total fees owed. Former RUC participants with registration holds assessed will be required to successfully settle their RUC account with the account manager prior to having the hold released by the DMV and being able to register the vehicle again. |
| R926-17-9. Contractual Terms Between the Department and Account Managers |
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(1) The Department will provide account manager oversight through a contractual relationship governing what the account manager is authorized to do on behalf of the Department. (2) Contracts between the Department and account managers will contain, at a minimum, guidelines for the following: (a) RUC participant enrollment, withdrawal, and removal processes. (b) Structure and content of user agreements between account managers and RUC participants. (c) Descriptions of mileage reporting mechanisms that account managers are authorized to offer to RUC participants. (d) Payment collection, transaction processing, and revenue remittance protocols. (e) Stipulation that any value-added services offered by an account manager must be approved by the Department prior to use by RUC participants. (f) Privacy and security protection processes, including parameters for data collection, retention, destruction, anonymization, aggregation, and sharing. (g) System testing and certification approach. (h) Customer service level expectations and performance standards. (i) Requirements for coordination and interfacing with the DMV. (j) Reporting of data collected through the program. (k) Audit procedures for verifying account manager performance in areas such as privacy protection, data destruction, data collection accuracy, and remittance of funds to the State. (l) Remedies available to the Department if an account manager fails to fulfill contractual terms. |