U.S. Legislative Issues

Earlier this month, NAFA sent a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittees urging them to maintain adequate funding in fiscal year (FY 2018) for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Clean Cities alternative fuels and vehicle deployment program. NAFA also encouraged its members to express their support for the program via this site.

NAFA was pleased to see that on July 12, the House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2018 funding bill for DOE that directs the Department to continue to support the Clean Cities program, including providing competitive grants to support alternative fuel, infrastructure, and vehicle deployment activities. On July 20, the Senate Appropriations Committee followed suit, approving an FY 2018 bill for DOE that recommends $34 million for outreach, deployment, and analysis to support the Clean Cities program. Within this amount, the Committee directs that $28 million be provided for deployment through the Clean Cities Program, of which not less than $24 million shall be for funding opportunity awards to Clean Cities Coalitions and Alternative Fuel Vehicle Community Partner projects.



On July 17, 2017, Reps. Diane Black (R-TN) and Ron Kind (D-WI) introduced H.R. 3264, the Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel, and Alternative Fuels Extension Act of 2017, legislation that would extend the biodiesel blenders’ tax credit and ultimately phase it out over five years. NAFA supports this proposal and will follow up with the bill’s sponsors with a formal letter of support.

Since 2005, the $1 per gallon biodiesel blenders’ tax credit has helped fuel retailers sell biodiesel at a price that is cost-competitive with diesel, thereby incentivizing consumer consumption. In the past, however, the federal biodiesel tax credit has been allowed to expire (as it did at the end of 2016) forcing market participants to wait for it to be retroactively renewed at the end of each year. The phase-out contained in H.R. 3264—which mirrors policy that has been enacted for other alternative energy sources such as wind and solar—will restore much-needed policy certainty to the market.

Under the phase-out, the tax credit amount for all biodiesel blenders would be $1.00 per gallon in 2017 and 2018, $0.75 per gallon in 2019, $0.50 per gallon in 2020 and 2021, and zero in 2022 and later. Further, the tax credit would remain at the blender level under H.R. 3264, a decision NAFA also strongly supports.



On July 27, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will take up an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3388, the Designating Each Car’s Automation Level Act, first-of-its-kind legislation governing self-driving vehicles. The legislation was originally approved by the panel’s Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee in a unanimous July 19 voice vote.

The amendment in the nature of a substitute will likely clarify the federal and state roles for regulating highly automated vehicles (HAVs) to encourage the testing, development, and deployment of HAVs in the U.S. Further, the proposal would require the submission of safety assessment certifications by manufacturers of HAVs and require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to publish a rulemaking and safety priority plan for HAVs.

The legislation would also: require manufacturers to develop a written cybersecurity plan; expand existing exemption authority for NHTSA to evaluate and approve exemptions from Federal motor vehicle safety standards only if there is no reduction in safety, and expand the testing provision from the FAST Act to include additional entities who meet specific reporting and obligations.