Cite as: 537 U. S. 36 (2002)
Stevens, J., concurring in judgment
ISTEA gave the ICC broad authority to establish a "fee system" that would comply with three conditions, the third of which contained two requirements.1 The fee for each participating State (1) may not exceed $10 per vehicle and (2) must be equal to the fee that the State "collected or charged as of November 15, 1991." § 11506(c)(2)(B)(iv)(III).
Because Michigan had both collected and charged a $10 fee in 1991—and continued to do so thereafter—the Michigan Public Service Commission did not violate either of those statutory requirements when it changed its method of determining reciprocity with respect to individual carriers.2 Indeed, the essential features of Michigan's fee system for 1992 were the same as they were in 1991: The amount of the fee that the "State collected or charged" was $10 per vehicle both before and after November 15, 1991; that fee was assessed on exactly the same kinds of vehicles both before and after that date; the State had reciprocal arrangements, providing for either a discount or a waiver of the fee with the same States in 1992 that it did in 1991.
Michigan did, however, violate an additional requirement imposed by the ICC when the State modified its method of determining the home State of out-of-state vehicles. That
1 "(B) Receipts; Fee System.—Such amended standards—
. . . . . "(iv) shall establish a fee system for the filing of proof of insurance as provided under subparagraph (A)(ii) of this paragraph that (I) will be based on the number of commercial motor vehicles the carrier operates in a State and on the number of States in which the carrier operates, (II) will minimize the costs of complying with the registration system, and (III) will result in a fee for each participating State that is equal to the fee, not to exceed $10 per vehicle, that such State collected or charged as of November 15, 1991 . . . ." 49 U. S. C. § 11506(c)(2)(B)(iv) (1994 ed.).
2 As explained by the majority, ante, at 42-43, Michigan changed its policy from determining reciprocity with respect to an individual vehicle based on where that vehicle was registered and had obtained a license plate to determining reciprocity based on where the trucking company that owned the individual vehicle maintained its principal place of business.
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