By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 4, 2026
Alaska issues no state operating authority to intrastate trucking companies. The two statutes that once regulated carriers economically, the Alaska Transportation Commission Act (AS 42.07) and the Alaska Motor Freight Carrier Act (AS 42.10), remain in Title 42 as chapter headings with no sections. What is left is a safety regime run by the DOT&PF Division of Measurement Standards and Commercial Vehicle Compliance: 17 AAC 25.210 adopts the federal motor carrier safety rules for intrastate operations, requires every intrastate-only carrier to file the federal motor carrier identification report and get an intrastate USDOT number before it starts operating, and swaps in the state's own insurance floor from AS 19.10.300 ($500,000 bodily injury and $200,000 property damage per occurrence) for the federal $750,000 general-freight figure.
The Alaska requirements table
- Agency
- Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Division of Measurement Standards and Commercial Vehicle Compliance (intrastate safety regulation and enforcement; no authority credential issued)
- Application
- There is no state authority application to file. The filings an Alaska-only carrier actually makes are the federal motor carrier identification report (MCS-150) filed electronically with FMCSA for the intrastate USDOT number (17 AAC 25.210(d) and (g)), and Alaska vehicle registration under AS 28.10, which for vehicles used for commercial purposes carries an annual fee set by unladen weight (AS 28.10.421(h)).
- Filing fee
- Alaska charges no intrastate operating authority fee because no authority program exists. A carrier's state costs are vehicle registration (annual commercial fees of $90 to $331 by unladen weight under AS 28.10.421(h), plus a one-time $20 for a commercial trailer under 28.10.421(i)) and oversize or overweight permit fees under 17 AAC 25.380.
- Renewal
- No authority renewal exists. The recurring state-side obligations are the federal motor carrier identification report update every 24 months (17 AAC 25.210(e)), annual registration of vehicles used for commercial purposes (AS 28.10.421(h)), and annual UCR registration, which 17 AAC 25.400 makes enforceable in Alaska by a stop-movement order.
Application fee schedule by authority type
Alaska charges one application filing fee per class of authority, so what a carrier pays depends on the certificate being applied for rather than on a term or a fleet size.
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Who the requirement covers
- GVWR threshold
- 14,000 lb17 AAC 25.250(a) applies the 49 CFR 390.5 definitions to the intrastate safety rules, except that for an intrastate vehicle under 26,001 pounds GVW, GVWR, GCW or GCWR the term commercial motor vehicle takes the AS 19.10.399 meaning, which for intrastate commerce starts at a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating (or actual weight) of 14,000 pounds or more. Vehicles designed to carry more than 15 passengers including the driver, and vehicles carrying placarded hazardous materials, are commercial motor vehicles at any weight. The insurance floor in AS 19.10.300 uses its own narrower definition: over 26,000 pounds GVWR or GCWR, or more than 15 passengers.
- For-hire only
- NoAS 19.10.399 covers vehicles used to transport passengers or property for commercial purposes, defined to include activities incidental to and in furtherance of a person's business even without direct compensation, so private carriers sit inside the same intrastate safety regime as for-hire carriers. AS 19.10.300(a) likewise reaches a person who carries freight in a motor vehicle for commercial purposes, not only for-hire carriers.
- Passenger carriers
- A vehicle designed to transport more than 15 passengers including the driver is a commercial motor vehicle under AS 19.10.399 and owes the AS 19.10.300 insurance minimums when used for commercial purposes.
- Household goods
- NoNo separate intrastate household goods authority appears in Alaska law or on the division's pages read this pass: Title 42 Chapter 10 (Alaska Motor Freight Carrier Act) has no sections, and 17 AAC 25 contains no household goods provisions. Movers follow the same USDOT, registration, insurance and safety obligations as other property carriers.
- Hazmat
- Yes17 AAC 25.200 adopts the federal hazardous materials regulations (49 CFR Parts 107, 171 through 173, 177, 178 and 180, as revised March 15, 2023) for intrastate carriage. A carrier moving Class 1, Division 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3 explosives must notify the division at least 24 hours before transport, and the division may deny the move or assign another date or route (25.200(c) and (d)). AS 19.10.300 sets no hazmat-specific minimum, but 17 AAC 25.210(b)(1) keeps item (2) of the federal 49 CFR 387.9 schedule ($5,000,000) for intrastate carriers it describes.
Alaska insurance minimums
State minimums can differ from the federal filing levels; the federal side is covered in our insurance filings guide.
- Liability minimum
- Null by design: Alaska states its intrastate minimum as split limits, not one figure. 17 AAC 25.210(b)(1) rewrites the lead-in of 49 CFR 387.9 so that carriers operating only in Alaska in intrastate commerce meet the minimums in AS 19.10.300 instead of the federal table, which are $200,000 for property damage in a single occurrence and $500,000 for bodily injury or death in a single occurrence. The exception is a carrier described in item (2) of the federal schedule (bulk hazardous substances and the other listed high-hazard loads), which must meet the federal $5,000,000.
Minimum liability by operation type
General freight is not the floor for every carrier. Hazmat and larger passenger operations carry higher minimums; buy against the row that matches what you haul.
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Other Alaska insurance requirements
Insurance filing forms
Your insurance company makes these filings with the state, not you.
- Liability proof
- AS 19.10.300(b): evidence of the required security is filed with the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and may be an insurance policy or certificate from an acceptable insurer, a surety bond, approved self-insurance, or other approved security.
- Cancellation
- AS 19.10.300(d): a policy, bond or other security may not be canceled on less than 30 days' written notice to the department, measured from the day the department receives the notice, and the policy or endorsement must say so.
- Note
- No state form number (an E-form or equivalent) is named in AS 19.10.300 or 17 AAC 25, and the division pages read this pass describe no filing procedure. AS 19.10.300(e) requires the driver to carry proof of insurance (an insurer card with a claims phone number and the insurer's name and address, a self-insurance certificate, or a copy of the surety bond), and 17 AAC 25.210(c) lets an officer stop a vehicle whose driver cannot show proof.
More Alaska authority rules
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- 17 AAC 25.210(d): a motor carrier that operates only in intrastate commerce must file a motor carrier identification report with FMCSA and receive an intrastate USDOT identification before it begins operations; (e) requires an updated report every 24 months; (g) requires electronic filing; (i) lets an enforcement officer cite a carrier that fails to file or files false information. The (j) exemption is narrow: vehicles of 26,000 pounds or less operated by licensed commercial or sport fishing operators furthering fishing operations, outside the Municipality of Anchorage and the City of Fairbanks, and not carrying placarded hazmat or more than 15 people.
No authority to buy
A carrier hauling freight or passengers between Alaska points files no state authority application and pays no authority fee. The Alaska Transportation Commission Act and the Alaska Motor Freight Carrier Act sit in Title 42 as chapter headings with nothing under them. Household goods movers have no separate state certificate either.
What remains is a safety regime. The DOT&PF Commercial Vehicle Compliance section enforces the federal rules Alaska adopted, plus state size and weight rules.
The intrastate USDOT number
This is the one credential every Alaska carrier needs. File the motor carrier identification report with FMCSA electronically, receive the intrastate USDOT number before operating, display it on each power unit, and update the report on the regulation's cycle. Officers can cite a carrier that never filed or filed false information.
The exemption is narrow: small vehicles of licensed commercial or sport fishing operators working their fishing business outside Anchorage and Fairbanks, with no placarded hazmat and a limited headcount aboard.
Where the safety rules start
For intrastate vehicles below the federal heavy line, Alaska borrows the AS 19.10.399 definition of a commercial motor vehicle, which sets its own weight-rating line instead of the federal one. Passenger vehicles above a set seat count and placarded hazmat loads count at any weight. Covered farm vehicles are excluded. Business use counts even without direct pay, so private carriers are inside the rules too.
Alaska's own insurance floor
17 AAC 25.210 rewrites the federal insurance rule for carriers operating only inside Alaska. Instead of the federal general-freight figure, they meet AS 19.10.300: one limit for bodily injury or death and another for property damage, each per occurrence. Carriers of the high-hazard loads in the federal schedule keep the federal amount. Evidence goes to DOT&PF, and a policy cannot be cancelled without advance written notice to the department.
Where this fits in the Alaska launch
A cell reading "Not confirmed" means the agency did not publish a figure we could verify, so we left it open rather than guessed. For the full launch order, work through start a trucking company in Alaska, then line up IRP registration and IFTA if you run beyond state lines. To compare every state at once, see the national intrastate authority table.