Seafarers International Union v. United States Coast Guard

871 F. Supp. 9, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17648, 1994 WL 687926
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedNovember 23, 1994
DocketCiv. A. No. 93-0787-LFO
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 871 F. Supp. 9 (Seafarers International Union v. United States Coast Guard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seafarers International Union v. United States Coast Guard, 871 F. Supp. 9, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17648, 1994 WL 687926 (D.D.C. 1994).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

OBERDORFER, District Judge.

This case arises out of the Coast Guard’s establishment of fees for marine licensing, certification of registry and merchant mariner documentation. 58 Fed.Reg. 15228 (Mar. 19, 1998). Plaintiffs include organizations that represent many different types of seamen, marine engineers, deck officers, radio/electronics officers, masters, licensed officers, and other maritime personnel. Plaintiffs also include five individuals who are subject to the Coast Guard’s license and document fee requirements. For reasons to be set forth, an accompanying Order denies defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The Order also grants in part and denies in part plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, and remands this case to the Coast Guard for further calculations of the costs of its licensing and documenting activities.

I.

A.

On November 5, 1990, Congress passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (the “1990 Budget Act”). On June 20, 1991, the United States Coast Guard (“Coast Guard”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to establish fees for the issuance of merchant marine licenses (both upper and lower level), certificates of registry, and merchant mariner documents. 56 Fed.Reg. 28448. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking included an invitation to comment. The original 45-day comment period ended on August 5,1991. The Coast Guard reopened the comment period on December 18, 1991. The second comment period closed on February 18, 1992.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposed dividing the fees into three identifiable phases in order to avoid charging people who begin, but fail to complete, the process of obtaining the document they sought. According to the Notice, the first phase is the evaluation of the application. Evaluation includes establishing an individual’s file, completing paperwork for a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal record check for first-time applicants, searching through Coast Guard and other government records, making verifications, and conducting follow up phone calls. When the Coast Guard determines whether or not an applicant has met the prerequisites, the evaluation phase is complete. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 56 Fed.Reg. at 28449.

The evaluation fee was set at $70 for an upper level license, $65 for a lower level license, and $45 for a radio officer. The evaluation fee for renewals of licenses and endorsements1 was set at $45. The evaluation fee for a certificate of registry was also set to vary by type. For a chief purser, purser or senior assistant purser, the evaluation fee was set at $45; for a junior assistant purser, medical doctor or professional nurse, there was no fee. The evaluation fee for a merchant mariner’s document was set at $60 when accompanied by a “qualified rating”; otherwise, there was to be no charge. An additional $17 fee was to be charged at the evaluation phase for the FBI criminal record check if the applicant sought an original (i.e. first-time) license, original certificate of reg[12]*12istry, or original merchant mariner document.

The second phase is the examination phase. The examination phase includes the scheduling, proctoring, and grading of the necessary examinations as well as notifying applicants of the results. Like the evaluation fee, the examination fee was also set to vary by type. The examination fee for an upper level license was set at $225 and for a lower level license at $80. Radio officer licenses do not require an examination. The examination fee for renewals of licenses and endorsements was set at $55. There was to be no examination for a certificate of registry. The examination fee for a merchant marine document was set at $60 for a “qualified rating”; otherwise, there was to be no examination.

The third phase is the issuance of the license, certificate or document. For all three types of documents, the issuance fee was set at $35. The Coast Guard claimed that the issuance fee was the same since the actual preparation of the different types of documents involves similar amounts of time.

B.

To determine the total costs of its licensing and documenting activities, the Coast Guard added together three costs: personnel and associated infrastructure; collection; and, FBI checks. Final Rule, 58 Fed.Reg. 15228, 15231 (Mar. 19, 1993).

The bulk of the costs were the personnel and associated infrastructure costs, which include office space; office equipment and supplies such as telephones, computers and copiers; special training; and other personnel-related costs. The Coast Guard derived the information about the personnel and associated infrastructure costs from two surveys: the 1988 Task Analysis Survey and a 1989 GMP Workload Analysis Survey. It used the 1989 G-MP Survey to determine the total of these costs, Ad.Rec. 668-71, and used the 1988 Task Survey to determine the individual costs for each type of document and each of the phases of the process.

The Coast Guard determined that there were 145 full-time equivalent employees in the 17 Regional Examination Centers directly involved in licensing and documenting activities or providing relevant administrative support. From information in the survey, the Coast Guard divided this group into three categories of employee: clerical, examiner and executive. Of the 145 positions, 52 positions were clerical, 67 were examiner; and, 26 were executive. Based on standard rates provided in the Coast Guard Standard Rate Instruction, COMDTINST 7310.1D (Ad. Rec. 363), the Coast Guard put the cost of a clerical position at $14/hour; an examiner position at $20/hour; and an executive position at $23/hour. The standard number of work hours per employee per year is 1715. COMDTINST M5312.11A (Ad.Rec. 373). From this, the Coast Guard determined the costs of its licensing and documenting activities in the Regional Examination Centers.

To the total of the costs from the Regional Examination Centers, the Coast Guard then added a 29% surcharge, which represented the District and Headquarter’s support used. The total amounted to an original annual estimate of $5.9 million.

The second cost was the collection cost. The annual collection cost was originally estimated at $300,000. The third cost was for FBI criminal record checks. For each check, the FBI charges the Coast Guard $17. Based on an estimate of approximately 16,-000 FBI checks per year, the Coast Guard estimated the total cost for FBI checks at $270,000. Thus, the original total estimated cost was $6.5 million.

Using the 1988 Task Survey, the Coast Guard calculated the personnel and associated infrastructure costs for each type of document and for each of the three phases of obtaining it in order to determine an average transaction time per applicant. From this, the Coast Guard determined the individual fee for each type of document and each phase of the process. Based on adjustments and rounding, the Coast Guard determined the initial fees included in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. After the adjustments and rounding, the total estimated cost of $6.5 million resulted in a total charge to those seeking a license, certificate or document of $6.1 million.

[13]*13C.

On August 5, 1991, plaintiffs filed a request, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, for much of the information on which the fees were based.

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