U.S. Legislative Issues
NAFA Utilizes Member Case Studies to Make Case for Key Tax Extensions
On October 27, 2015, NAFA sent a letter to key members of Congress urging them to act swiftly on a retroactive extension through 2016 of the $0.50 per gallon alternative fuel tax credit for compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), propane autogas and other alternative transportation fuels, as well as the $1.00 per gallon tax credit for biodiesel and the 30 percent alternative fuel infrastructure tax credit. Due to Congressional inaction, these important credits lapsed on December 21, 2014. "Fuel tax credits have helped accelerate the adoption of natural gas and propane as motor fuels," NAFA states in the letter. "These credits help offset the higher acquisition cost of alternative fuel vehicles and help ensure the long-term demand and commercial viability of alternative fuel technologies."
To emphasize this point, NAFA used first-hand accounts submitted by NAFA members that underscore the importance of and link between these incentives and the ability of corporate and government fleets throughout the country to invest in alternative fuel vehicles. Among the case studies included in the letter is the following, which illustrates how critical these incentives are to a fleet’s ability to expand their use of alternative fuel vehicles and technologies:
"The County has received over $3 million since 2008 in federal $.50 per gallon tax credits for their use of LNG in their refuse fleet of over 100 LNG refuse trucks. These refunds recently enabled the County to expand their use of natural gas to purchase 40 new CNG trucks and to build the Region’s first combined time fill and fast fill CNG fueling station for $1.9 million.
And now that the new CNG station is open and available to provide fuel, the County intends to purchase 30 additional CNG trucks before the end of this year with $650,000 in funding assistance from the State. None of this would have been feasible without the funds provided from the federal tax credits for the County’s LNG use over the past several years."
NAFA will continue to push Congress to take action promptly to extend these credits for the reasons above and so that companies and government agencies can finalize their vehicle acquisitions and project fuel costs.
NAFA Submits Comments to NHTSA on Takata Recalls
Following acknowledgement by Takata that airbag inflators it produced for certain vehicles were defective, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the largest safety recall in U.S. history of 33.8 million vehicles. In June 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) invited public comment on its strategy in organizing the wide-ranging Takata recalls. This strategy, or Coordinated Remedy Program Proceeding, aims to facilitate the prioritization, organization, and phasing of the remedy programs to ensure that all affected vehicles are equipped with functional airbags.
On October 28, 2015, NAFA submitted official comments regarding the Coordinated Remedy Program Proceeding. In its comments, NAFA urged NHTSA to allow fleet maintenance facilities that are authorized by the vehicle manufacturer to perform warranty work and recalls, to perform the remedy work to replace the defective inflators. NAFA also urged NHTSA to ensure that fleets are able to order and receive replacement inflator kits on a timely basis from vehicle manufacturers’ regional parts distribution centers.
NHTSA Considers Rule Mandating Collision-Avoidance Systems
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun working to determine whether it will pursue a federal rule to require all vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more to be equipped with collision-avoidance and mitigation systems that automatically brake without driver input. The announcement, published in the Federal Register on October 16, 2015, comes in response to a petition filed last February by several safety groups who claim the systems have the potential to save lives by preventing or reducing rear-end collisions.
NHTSA made clear in its posting, however, that granting the petition does not mean that the agency will move forward with a final rule. The agency said it will continue to study the systems as it has for several years and that "the determination of whether to issue a rule will be made after study of the requested action and the various alternatives in the course of the rulemaking proceeding." Crash avoidance systems that automatically brake are already required in Europe, which should aid the agency in its testing, it says. NHTSA is currently accepting comments on its posting. The agency has not yet indicated when the comment period will close.
House Passes Highway Patch; Continues Work on Multi-year Bill
On October 26, 2015, the House approved a three-week extension of federal transportation funding in efforts to prevent a highway funding stoppage. The bill is expected to clear the Senate before the current funding deadline of October 29.
House lawmakers say the temporary patch will provide time for them to finish their work on a six-year, $325 billion highway funding bill that was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee on October 22. The bill, H.R.3763, is scheduled for floor action on Nov. 3-4. House leadership has signaled that funding offsets will hopefully be readied by then and that the pay-fors will likely resemble those proposed by the Senate. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman, Jim Inhofe (R-OK), says he expects a multi-year highway bill to reach the President’s desk by Thanksgiving.
House Multi-year Highway Bill Calls for Marijuana Study; Criticizes DOT for Delays
On October 22, 2015, the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee passed a long term transportation reauthorization bill entitled the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act (STRRA), H.R. 3763. During the Committee’s mark-up, the bill received high praise for its bipartisanship and its six-year proposed reauthorization. The key objectives of this legislation are to improve U.S. infrastructure; reform surface transportation programs, refocus on addressing national priorities, and enhance the safety and efficiency of our national transportation system.
Notably, H.R. 3763 also directs the Secretary of Transportation to partner with other Federal agencies as appropriate to conduct a study on marijuana-impaired driving. As part of this study, the Secretary is asked to examine the following:
• Methods to detect marijuana-impaired driving, including devices capable of measuring marijuana levels in motor vehicle operators;
• A review of impairment standard research for driving under the influence of marijuana;
• Methods to differentiate the cause of a driver impairment between alcohol and marijuana;
• State-based policies on marijuana-impaired driving; and
• The role and extent of marijuana impairment in motor vehicle accidents.
Findings and recommendations are to be submitted to the T&I Committee within one year, according to the bill.
The House bill also contains language scolding the U.S. Department of Transportation for its failure to meet several regulatory deadlines including those regarding electronic logging devices; standards for training; and the national clearinghouse for controlled substance and alcohol test results of commercial motor vehicle operators.
Hearing Held to Address Vehicle Safety in Rapidly Changing Landscape
On October 21, 2015, the House Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Michael Burgess, (R-TX) held a hearing to discuss draft legislation aimed at improving vehicle safety on American roads. The draft addresses a number of areas of vehicle safety including improving recall awareness, the deployment of crash avoidance technologies and other connected vehicle technologies that improve roadway safety and fuel efficiency, privacy and security protections for motorists, and how to modernize the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for the digital age.
The issue of privacy and security protections for motorists is rapidly attracting attention in the wake of the increasing automation of cars, which has raised privacy concerns, and the high-profile hack of a Chrysler Jeep Cherokee announced last July.
A chapter on vehicle data privacy in the draft requires that one year after the enactment of the legislation, vehicle manufacturers should "develop and implement" a privacy policy outlining their practices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of information collected through technologies and services offered by the manufacturer directly or through a third party." Further, the vehicle maker will have to specify under what circumstances the information is collected and offer a commitment to retain it no longer than is determined necessary by the manufacturer for legitimate business purposes.
The maker will also need to have in place "reasonable measures" to protect the information against loss and unauthorized access or use. Vehicle makers could face a civil penalty for violation of these rules of not more than $5,000 per day, with the maximum penalty for a series of violations by a single manufacturer being up to $1 million.
A proposed section on motor-vehicle data hacking would make it illegal and impose a civil penalty of up to $100,000 for each violation if a person accesses "without authorization, an electronic control unit or critical system of a motor vehicle, or other system containing driving data for such motor vehicle, either wirelessly or through a wired connection."
