The federal rules — driver files, drug and alcohol testing, maintenance records, hours of service — are the same everywhere. What changes at the state line is the registration ladder. Each guide covers one state's layer on top of 49 CFR: the state-issued carrier number, intrastate USDOT thresholds, the audit and enforcement program, insurance minimums, and IRP, IFTA, and UCR obligations.
TxDMV number and operating authority, DPS enforcement, UCR and TERP costs, intrastate thresholds.
CA Number + Motor Carrier Permit, BIT and CSAT audits, Employer Pull Notice, CARB Clean Truck Check.
Registration thresholds, FLHSMV and FHP enforcement, UCR filing via a neighbor state, PRISM.
PennDOT and PA PUC registration, the unusual 17,001 lb GVWR threshold, PUC insurance minimums.
PUCO and CPCN registration, the PUCO-inspector safety program, the $30/vehicle annual fee.
ICC Public Carrier Certificate, the Chapter 13 safety test on top of §396.17, flat weight tax, and the 2026 move of motor carrier safety to the Illinois State Police.
NYSDOT operating authority, the Highway Use Tax certificate and quarterly mileage returns, a state annual inspection that satisfies §396.17, PRISM registration enforcement.
The GIMC intrastate registration (USDOT-GA numbers, $5/vehicle, a required safety seminar), rules reaching below 10,001 lbs, agricultural carve-outs, DPS CVE audits.
CVED Authority at $100 per vehicle a year, an intrastate rulebook that starts at 26,001 lbs but never switches off Parts 391–393, the axle-based truck-weight law, and free state-funded carrier training.
Your state not listed?
More state guides are on the way — new ones are announced on the blog as they publish. The federal side doesn't wait for your state, though: the free compliance tools and the new-entrant audit guide apply to carriers in every state.
The state layer decides which numbers go on the door. The federal layer decides what an auditor asks for. Roadworthy HQ keeps the federal record — driver files, testing program, maintenance, retention clocks — audit-ready in one workspace.
Built on 49 CFR.