FY 2022 UPDATED FMCSA APPLICANT TITLE VI PROGRAM COMPLIANCE PLAN CHECKLIST.docx

FMCSA APPLICANT TITLE VI PROGRAM COMPLIANCE PLAN

CHECKLIST

Purpose

Each U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Grant Applicant is responsible for submitting an approved Title VI Program Compliance Plan to the FMCSA Office of Civil Rights (OCR) with the Grant application. All OCR comments must be addressed prior to the Grant application submission. If the prospective Applicant believes that a compliance plan or compliance plan elements previously developed for submission to another Federal Funding Agency meet FMCSA requirements, the prospective Applicant may include the plan or elements in its draft FMCSA Title VI Program Compliance Plan submission to the FMCSA OCR. Please note that an FMCSA-approved Plan must accompany the Grant application.

Title VI Program Compliance Plan: Elements

· Policy Statement – The Policy Statement shall include the following:

· Applicant’s commitment to comply with 49 C.F.R. part 21 and 49 C.F.R. part 303;

· Identification of an Agency-wide Title VI Program Coordinator;

· A reference to the Title VI Program Assurance;

· Delegation of sufficient responsibility and authority to the Title VI Program Coordinator and Bureau/Division/Office Managers to effectively implement the Agency’s Title VI Program; and

· Signature of the Applicant’s CEO.

· FMCSA Title VI Program Assurance – Insert the CEO-signed Title VI Program Assurance here.

· Description of Federal-Aid Programs – The applicant will describe the Federal-Aid Program for which it is applying and will identify how this Program impacts members of the public. This will include the benefits or services to the public that are provided by the Program, emphasizing benefits to minority groups.

· Notification to Beneficiaries/Participants – This includes written documents (i.e., Plans, Reports, pamphlets, brochures, etc.), information posted on websites, and posters provided on-site. The Applicant will detail its Title VI Program obligations and notify the public of the protections against discrimination afforded to them by Title VI Program requirements:

· Dissemination Of Information: The Applicant should disseminate this information to the public via accessible printed and electronic media, including posting on the Applicant’s website;

· Contents Of Notification: At a minimum, the Notification should include the following–

1. Statement that the Applicant does not discriminate with regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, income-level, or Limited English Proficiency (LEP);

2. Identify procedures to be followed by the public to request additional information regarding the Applicant’s Nondiscrimination obligations; and

· Identify procedures to be followed by the public to file a discrimination complaint against the Applicant, to include the name of a contact representative, address, and telephone number/e-mail address.

· Sub-Recipient Compliance Reports – If an Applicant intends to or is presently providing Federal funding to another entity, the Applicant is responsible for monitoring the entity’s (i.e., Sub-Recipient of Federal funding) compliance with Title VI Program requirements. This section should detail the following:

· How the Applicant identifies Sub-Recipients;

· How the Applicant ensures that Sub-Recipients understand their Title VI Program responsibilities;

· How the Applicant intends to or is already monitoring the effective implementation of Sub-Recipient Title VI Program requirements. Specifically:

· How the Applicant determines or will determine the number of Sub-Recipient reviews to conduct annually;

· The criteria the Applicant will use to determine when to conduct a Desk Audit review;

· How the Applicant determines when and how often to conduct On-Site visits;

· How the Applicant determines that the Sub-Recipient is in compliance;

· How the Applicant ensures that the Sub-Recipient takes action to correct discrimination and prevent it from occurring in the future; and

· Indication of whether the Applicant requires periodic reporting, Program Plans, Title VI Program Assurances, identification of a Title VI Program Coordinator, etc., from Sub-Recipients.

· Training – The Applicant shall describe its procedure for conducting periodic Title VI Program training to its personnel. Training should include using the Title VI Program Policy Statement and power-point presentation (in-person, web-based, etc.), how often, and by whom.

· Access to Records – An Applicant is responsible for ensuring that all records relating to the effective implementation of Title VI Program requirements are available for review by the FMCSA. The draft Plan should describe how these documents are made available to FMCSA staff either through periodic submission and/or upon request. A document request by FMCSA will generally occur when it is conducting a compliance review and/or complaint investigation.

· Complaint Disposition Process -- The Applicant is responsible for implementing timely and effective Title VI Program Complaint Disposition procedures.

· The Applicant shall define steps to be followed by Applicant staff, including:

· Complaint Disposition (including intake);

· Investigation planning;

· Conducting the Investigation;

· Writing Investigation;

· Ultimate disposition of the complaint.

This will include complaints filed against the Applicant and against Sub-Recipients of the Applicant. Sample documents should be included or referenced in this section.

· The Applicant shall maintain a Title VI Complaint Log to include the following information:

· name of complainant;

· identification by demography (i.e., race, color, national origin, etc.);

· allegation(s);

· complaint date;

· date of Report of Investigation;

· determination made and date;

· and any other relevant information as deemed appropriate.

The Applicant shall make the Complaint Log available to the FMCSA upon request.

· Status of Corrective Actions Implemented by Applicant to Address Deficiencies Previously Identified During a Title VI Program Compliance Review – If FMCSA OCR or any other state, local or federal agency is conducting or has previously conducted a Title VI Program compliance review of the Applicant within the last five years and identified deficiencies, the Applicant shall reference the Title VI Program Compliance Review Report, identify the deficiencies, and provide a status report regarding the progress made developing and implementing corrective actions to address the deficiencies. If the compliance review was conducted by another, please provide a copy of the Report.

· Community Participation Process – This section of the Plan is applicable to all FMCSA State Partners that provide services/activities to the public. FMCSA interprets this to apply to all motorist licensure/motor vehicle registration-related services/activities (including knowledge tests, skills tests, etc.). FMCSA is not aware of any enforcement-related activities (i.e. motor carrier compliance reviews, safety inspections, etc.) that fall under this requirement. Therefore, for State Partners that do not provide/conduct motorist licensure/motor vehicle registration-related services/activities, please include this section and state that this section is not applicable.

For State Partners that do provide/conduct motorist licensure/motor vehicle registration-related services/activities, please define procedures to accomplish the following:

· In the event that a State Partner will be increasing or decreasing the number of publically-accessed facilities and/or the services provided/activities conducted at certain publically-accessed facilities, the State Partner is required to conduct an evaluation of the impacts to members of the Public to determine what outreach to the members of the Public (if any) may be necessary to inform them of the change in availability of activities/services and/or facilities. In the event of a proposed increase of activities/services and/or facilities, minimal outreach to the public (if any) will most likely be determined by the State Partner to be sufficient. However, in the event of a decrease of activities/services and/or facilities, the State Partner will at a minimum consider the following questions:

· Is the decrease localized, regional, or state-wide?

· Are there other facilities or methods of conducting activities/services (i.e., applying for licenses/registrations or renewals on-line, activities/services at County facilities or available through other 3rd-Party Testers, etc.) available in the local or regional area?

The answers to these questions will then lead to the determination by the State Partner as to how extensive and intensive the outreach/Notice to the Public will need to be. If the impact is local or regional and there are other methods of obtaining the services in the area, then the outreach may be as simple as a notice to the Public regarding the change and identification of other available methods to obtain those services. In the event that multiple facilities regionally or state-wide will be affected and there will be a marked diminution of available facilities and services offered, then the State Partner may determine that an intensive outreach effort to include meetings will be necessary to notify and then solicit feedback regarding the impact of the proposed changes. In the event that the State Partner determines that an intensive outreach effort is necessary, the following is applicable –

1) Prepare a Stakeholders List. This Stakeholders List is to identify both affected customers (both benefited and burdened by the program) and any advocacy groups, churches, community-based organizations, other advisory bodies, etc. The list should also include demographic information for affected customers regarding race, color, national origin (including Limited English Proficient individuals), sex, age, disability, and income-level.

a) The Stakeholders List must be sufficiently inclusive to ensure that the news of the proposed change(s) is communicated to the greatest number of customers;

2) Plan Public Meetings. Determine an effective number of Public Meetings to hold in strategically-significant areas and at appropriate times to reach the greatest number of customers. Determine the method for and communicate news of the Public Meeting(s) to the greatest number of customers via hard copy publications (i.e., newspapers, newsletters, posters, etc.), electronic media (i.e., website, social media to include Facebook, twitter, etc.), and stakeholder groups listed above.

3) Publicize Proposed Changes. Determine how to communicate the news of the proposed change(s) to the greatest number of customers via hard copy publications (i.e., newspapers, newsletters, posters, etc.), electronic media (i.e., website, social media to include Facebook, twitter, etc.), and stakeholder groups listed above. This news should be communicated in an accessible and inclusive manner (including foreign language translations, if necessary) that promotes effective public participation and is free of linguistic, cultural, economic or historical barriers.

4) Conduct the Public Meetings. Ensure that reasonable time is provided for attendees to provide comments regarding the proposed change(s);

5) Review and Analysis. At the conclusion of the outreach effort, review the comments and analyze the impacts to all customers (regardless of a customer’s race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, income-level, or LEP) regarding their ability to access the facilities/services both prior to the proposed change(s) and following the proposed change(s). This analysis is required to be sufficiently detailed so that the ultimate conclusion as to how the proposed change(s) will impact customers is well-documented;

6) Written Report. Prepare a detailed record to capture all aspects of the outreach effort;

7) Submission to FMCSA. Submit the record to FMCSA. Please note that FMCSA reserves the right to offer comments as deemed appropriate following a review of the record;

8) Implement the change(s);

9) Monitor Feedback. Monitor customer communications for a period of time (i.e., six months, one year) for reactions to the change;

10) Re-Evaluate. Be prepared to adjust the change(s) as appropriate dependent upon the actual impact to customers;

11) Adjust. Adjust the change(s) as appropriate dependent upon the actual impact to customers.

12) Notification of Title VI Program Protections. Notify beneficiaries of protections available to them under the Title VI Program. Notify the public of procedures for filing a Title VI complaint. Please refer to the Notification to Beneficiaries/Participants section of this Plan regarding how to implement this requirement.

· The steps taken to accomplish the preceding will be as comprehensive and intensive as is required by the nature of the proposed change(s). For example, the effort required for an increase in the number of publically-accessed facilities may not be as comprehensive and intensive as the decrease of publically-accessed facilities and/or decrease of services provided at identified locations;

· This requirement for Community Participation outreach is not intended to be developed separate and apart from the outreach process that a State Partner may already use at present. If a State Partner has an existing Community Participation outreach approach, the State Partner will review the existing approach and will revise the existing approach to address any of the requirements not presently addressed from this section.

· Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspection Selection & Unbiased Enforcement Policies -- This section is applicable to Applicants which conduct commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety inspections (and possibly safety audits of commercial motor carriers) and traffic enforcement activities. If the Applicant does not conduct these activities, please indicate that this section is not applicable to the Applicant. If the Applicant does conduct these activities, please include the following:

· Insert a statement indicating that the Applicant has developed a CMV inspection selection policy or has reviewed an existing policy and has referenced the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Operational Policy #13 (“Selecting Vehicles for Inspection”) during the development of the policy. Additionally, please indicate that the Applicant’s CEO has signed/approved the policy and provide the date of the policy. Finally, please submit the policy to the FMCSA Office of Civil Rights;

· Insert a statement that the Applicant has developed an Unbiased Enforcement policy which includes references to the CEO-signed FMCSA Title VI Program Assurance (and identifies the protected groups which are identified under the FMCSA Title VI Program), Public Notice of Title VI Program Rights (include the weblink to the Public Notice), complaint disposition including coordination with the Applicant’s Title VI Program Coordinator, Title VI Program training for personnel conducted annually or every-other-year, and periodic monitoring by the Applicant of the effective implementation of this policy. Additionally, please indicate that the Applicant’s CEO has signed/approved the policy and provide the date of the policy. Finally, please submit the policy to the FMCSA Office of Civil Rights.

FMCSA Office of Civil Rights recommends Applicants develop a combined policy and will provide an example of a combined policy to the Applicant upon request.

April 21, 2021