As the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration looks forward to its Spring 2002 budget submission, the agency is holding public "listening sessions," the first one today in Atlanta.

Existing legislation provides for FMCSA programs through September 2003. The agency has started working on the process to develop a multi-year reauthorization proposal to put in place when existing legislation expires.
During these three-hour listening sessions, FMCSA will present various areas where the agency feels funds should be allocated in the next budget, and ask the public for their opinion in what one official described as a "free-wheeling chat," rather than a formal testimony process.
The first session is being held in Atlanta today from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel. There will be four more:

• Aug. 2, Princeton, N.J., Hyatt Regency Princeton, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

• Aug. 7, Oakland, Calif., Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building, 9 a.m.-noon.

• Aug. 9, Chicago, Ramada Plaza Hotel (Rosemont), 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

• Aug. 16, Washington, D.C., DOT headquarters, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

For more information, visit the FMCSA's web site at www.fmsca.dot.gov/mcsr_lsa.htm.