Yellow Transp., Inc. v. Michigan, 537 U.S. 36, 12 (2002)

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Cite as: 537 U. S. 36 (2002)

Opinion of the Court

See Single State Insurance Registration, 9 I. C. C. 2d, at 618. The ICC concluded that its rule best served the "in-tent of the law that the flow of revenue for the States be maintained while the burden of the registration system for carriers be reduced." Ibid. The agency considered that allowing States to disavow reciprocity agreements and charge a single, uniform fee might reduce administrative burdens, but expressed concern that carriers' registration costs, and state revenues, would balloon. Ibid. (noting that some carriers' fees "assertedly could increase as much as 900%," and that one commenter presented a "worst case scenario" in which "State revenues could increase from $50 million to $200 million").

Respondents argue that Congress intended for each State to set a single, uniform fee. While such a mandate would, indeed, have simplified the new system, it is not compelled by the language of the statute, which instructs the ICC to implement a system under which States charge a fee, not to exceed $10 per vehicle, that is equal to the fee such States "collected or charged as of November 15, 1991."

Respondents also contend that, by freezing the fees charged under reciprocity agreements as part of the fee cap, the ICC added a constraint not within the express language of the statute. The Michigan Supreme Court expressed a similar concern, stating that "[i]t is not for the ICC . . . to insert words into the statute." 464 Mich., at 32, 627 N. W. 2d, at 241-242. It was precisely Congress' command, however, that the ICC promulgate standards to govern the Single State Registration System, 49 U. S. C. § 11506(c) (1994 ed.), and it was thus for that agency to resolve any ambiguities and fill in any holes in the statutory scheme. See Mead Corp., supra, at 229; Chevron, supra, at 843-844. To hold States to the fees they actually collected or charged seems to us a reasonable interpretation of the statute's command that state fees be "equal to the fee, not to exceed $10 per

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