On December 30, the Department of Transportation announced 2025 updated civil penalty amounts for the following agencies:
- Office of the Secretary (OST)
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
- Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
- Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)
- Maritime Administration (MARAD)
- Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS)
DOT uses a statutorily mandated formula created by the Office of Management and Budget to adjust civil penalty amounts annually to account for inflation. To determine increases, the Department multiplies the maximum or minimum penalty amount by the percent change between the October 2024 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the October 2023 CPI-U. This year, the percent change was 1.02598.
Charts summarizing each agency’s existing and new penalty amounts were published in the Federal Register and are available here.
These adjusted penalty amounts are effective immediately.