U.S. Legislative Issues

On May 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ordered Takata Corp. to replace as many as 40 million additional airbags linked to deadly malfunctions, more than doubling what was already the biggest auto recall in U.S. history. The move follows the agency’s confirmation of the root cause behind the inflators’ propensity to rupture. Ruptures of the Takata inflators have been tied to ten deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S.

"This issue is urgent," said Mark Rosekind, NHTSA Administrator. "The science clearly shows these inflators can become more dangerous over time."

In February, researchers hired by a coalition of automakers found that moisture was a key factor in the airbag ruptures that can spray shrapnel toward drivers and front-seat passengers in the affected cars. Cars with a particular Takata airbag design susceptible to water intrusion and with prolonged exposure to a high-humidity climate are also at the highest risk, the panel found.

The expanded recalls will take place in five phases between now and the end of 2019 and will be based on prioritization of risk, which is determined by age and exposure to humidity and temperatures, Rosekind said. Car owners can check to see if their vehicle is affected at www.safercar.gov. 

 According to a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, legal blood limits for marijuana are unscientific and not an accurate way of measuring impairment. The foundation concluded that it’s not possible to set a blood-test threshold for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, as some drivers can have a low level of THC in their blood and be unsafe behind the wheel, while others with relatively high levels may not be a hazard.

The report recommends replacing current laws with ones that rely on specially trained police officers to determine if a driver is impaired, backed up by a test for the presence of THC rather than a specific threshold. For example, the officers would screen for dozens of indicators of drug use such as pupil dilation, tongue color, and behavior.  

The foundation's recommendation to replace the laws in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington comes as legislatures in several more states are considering adopting similar laws. At least three states, and possibly as many as eleven, will vote this fall on ballot measures to legalize marijuana for either recreational or medicinal use, or both.

 

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security, which oversees trucking issues, criticized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in a May 2 field hearing for its safety performance scoring program and its regulations process. "Commercial carriers and businesses will benefit from increased participation, clarity and transparency within the obscure and often controversial regulatory process at the FMCSA," Fischer stated. 

A long-time critic of the FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scoring program, Sen. Fischer also stressed the need for a system that accurately reflects carriers’ safety records. "Erroneous scores have prompted frivolous litigation and caused carriers to lose long-standing business contracts," she said. 

Passed in 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act requires FMCSA to reform its regulatory structure and the CSA program, provisions the Senator praised at the hearing. In March 2016, FMCSA announced that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine had been commissioned to carry out the review of CSA for the agency. The focus of the review will be on CSA’s safety methodology as well as safety indicators for motor carriers.  

On May 10, 2016, NAFA sent a letter to members of the House Ways and Means Committee in opposition of H.R. 5004, the Stop Animal Fat Tax Credits Act, legislation that would eliminate certain tax credits for biofuels produced with animal fats. In the letter, NAFA writes, "It is clear that fuel tax credits have helped accelerate the widespread adoption of alternative fuels and vehicles. Elimination of these important credits for biofuels produced with animal fats would undoubtedly correspond with an increase in cost and a devastating drop in usage of these fuels, thus jeopardizing the long-term demand and commercial viability of these critical alternative fuel technologies."

A second letter was also sent to members of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee expressing NAFA’s opposition to legislative proposals that would convert the biodiesel and renewable diesel blender tax credit to a production tax credit. "Converting the tax credit to a producer's tax credit and denying its availability to all fuels will have a negative impact on the cost and availability of renewable diesel," NAFA wrote in the letter.