Senate, House Pass Highway Bill with Increases to Customs User Fees, Including MPF, Ex-Im Reauthorization

Congress voted to approve surface transportation reauthorization legislation that would increase customs user fees, including the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and broker permit fees, on Dec. 3. The bill provides funding for federal highway and other transportation projects through 2020. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (here), which also includes reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank, will next go to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.

Both Houses of Congress easily passed the bill following a conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions (see 1512020022). The FAST Act would use an increase to customs user fees based on the Consumer Price Index to partially fund the measure, it said. Among the fees that would likely see an increase are the MPF, broker permitting fees and fees for commercial vessels of 100 net tons or more. The bill would amend customs fees listed in the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985 (here) (19 USC 58c) to allow for the CPI adjustments. A number of the COBRA fees have since been changed within CBP's regulations in 19 CFR Part 24 (here).

The bill requires the first such inflationary adjustment to take place April 1 "to reflect the percentage (if any) of the increase in the average of the " the CPI for the preceding year compared to the CPI for fiscal year 2014. The Treasury Secretary would make further adjustments at the beginning of each fiscal year. The fees aren't currently adjusted for inflation. The use of the customs fees was somewhat controversial. CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said in September that the use of the fees for projects not directly related to CBP is a source of concern (see 1509290021).