Compliance reference
Chauffeured Fleet Compliance Glossary
Every acronym a chauffeured-transportation operator runs into — federal, state, and city — defined in one place, with a link to the full guide on each. Verified against primary sources.
- TCP number
- California charter-party carrier operating authority issued by the CPUC — the state license every CA limo, black-car, and charter operator must hold. Most hold a Class P permit; renews every 3 years.
- FHV license
- New York TLC For-Hire Vehicle license — one per VIN, affiliated with exactly one base. $275/year on a two-year term.
- TLC base license
- The NYC operating authority every for-hire company needs: a licensed dispatch base that vehicles affiliate with. $1,500 for a three-year term.
- Ground Transportation Tax (GTT)
- Chicago's tax on ground-transportation trips. Since July 1, 2026, city livery-plate holders pay a flat $98/month per plate; suburban and charter operators stay on the older daily regimes.
- MPEA Airport Departure Tax
- Chicago tax on departures from O'Hare and Midway, levied on the business: $4 per livery departure, or $18/$36/$54 per bus by capacity.
- Certificate of Safety
- Illinois's semi-annual vehicle safety inspection at an Official Testing Station — required every 6 months for prearranged for-hire vehicles, sedans included.
- Public Chauffeur License
- Chicago's city driver license for livery and charter drivers, issued by BACP: $40 for a two-year term, with a training course and written exam for new applicants.
- Driver Qualification File (DQF)
- The file an employer must keep on each CDL driver documenting their qualifications — application, MVR, road test or equivalent, and medical certification — under the federal safety regulations.
- FMCSA Clearinghouse
- The federal database of CDL drivers' drug- and alcohol-program violations. Employers must run a pre-employment query and an annual query on every CDL driver.
- DOT medical card
- A DOT medical examiner's certificate (MCSA-5876) valid up to two years. Rides with every CDL federally; Illinois also requires it for drivers of 8+ passenger vehicles.
- Random testing pool
- The federal random drug- and alcohol-testing pool CDL drivers must belong to, tested at annual minimums of 50% (drugs) and 10% (alcohol) of pool positions.
- Employer Pull Notice (EPN)
- A California DMV program that automatically notifies an employer of a driver's license status and violations. CPUC requires TCP carriers to enroll every driver.
- CDL passenger endorsement
- The commercial-license endorsement required to drive vehicles designed for 16+ people including the driver (10+ in California) for hire.
- Return-to-duty
- The federal process a driver must complete after a positive test or refusal — evaluation by a Substance Abuse Professional and a negative return-to-duty test — before performing safety-sensitive work again.
- Consortium / TPA
- A third-party administrator that runs a shared random-testing pool and recordkeeping for small fleets — though the duty to ground a driver on a positive result stays with the employer.
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General information, not legal advice. Definitions are summaries — see each linked guide and its cited sources for detail.