Pursuant to 29-A MRSA §2458, the Secretary of State may suspend the vehicle registration or privilege to operate of any motor carrier or registrant determined by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to be unfit as determined by the issuance of an out-of-service order. The suspension shall remain in effect until the carrier or registrant is found by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to no longer be unfit. The suspension applies to all commercial vehicles under the carrier's or registrant's control. The suspension applies to all related entities as defined in 29-A M.R.S.A. §2458(6).
A carrier or registrant whose privilege to operate commercial vehicles has been suspended pursuant to this rule, or who has been denied a registration, may request a hearing. Hearings shall be held pursuant to 5 MRSA Chapter 5 sub chapter 4, Rules for the Hearings of the Secretary of State. Hearings shall be limited to whether the carrier under suspension has been correctly identified, and whether or not the carrier has been found by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to be unfit, and whether the FMCSA has subsequently determined that the carrier no longer is unfit.
Appeals of a motor carrier's actual safety fitness must be made to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Restoration: A motor carrier's or registrant's privilege to operate commercial vehicles, may be restored upon the carrier's or registrant's removal from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's MCSIP program. The Bureau must receive formal notification from FMCSA that the carrier is no longer rated as unfit.
Restoration requires the payment of a thirty-dollar ($30.00) restoration fee.
29- 250 C.M.R. ch. 169, § I