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LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY ACTIVITIES
Latest
Legislative Update - June
2010
We are still pressing on with
Right-to-Repair on Capitol Hill. Last week SSDA-AT met with staff from the
offices of Representatives Matsui (D-5th CA) and Castor (D-11th FL). These
were positive meetings and we hope to be adding to the current 67
co-sponsors. If you know any dealers in the Sacramento or Tampa area please
ask them to call the respective congressional offices and ask them to
co-sponsor H.R. 2057, the Motor Vehicle Owner’s Right to Repair Act.
On June 15th, Paul Fiore presented comments at an EPA hearing concerning the
Agency’s proposed Rulemaking titled “Identification of Non-Hazardous
Secondary Materials that are Solid Wastes”. Essentially, the EPA is trying
to shift Tire-Derived Fuel (TDF) from section 112 of the Clean Air Act to
section 129. There are other “waste materials” that will be affected but the
bottom line is the regulations for emissions are far more stringent in
section 129 and if the EPA is successful, most factories in general, and
cement kilns in particular, would stop utilizing recycled tires as fuel. We
will be submitting comments to the docket and the focus of our position will
be the successful reduction of tire piles in the United Sates and our fears
that this move has the potential of adding millions of tires into the
landfills or worse, as well as severely disrupting the scrap tire markets.
In the midst of the brouhaha over the Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act (H.R. 4173), SSDA-AT has been lobbying for two amendments
that would benefit membership and, conversely, if we lose them, could add
more woes to all of our folks in business. If you recall our concern and
frustration with “swipe fees” relevant to any discussion of the interchange
rate charged by credit card processing banks, be advised that SSDA-AT is a
signatory on the letter in support of the Durbin Amendment that tries to
reign in Visa and MasterCard’s total monopoly of this market. As we write,
the amendment has survived the House/Senate conferees report and could be
voted on this week.
A somewhat esoteric provision has the potential for creating more harm and
that is why we are also a signatory on a letter in support of The Small
Business Fairness and Regulatory Transparency Amendment. Small business
advocacy review panels are currently utilized by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) under the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996. The inclusion of small business
recommendations with proposed rules promotes transparency without slowing
the important rulemaking process and helps minimize unintended consequences
that can occur with one-size-fits-all regulations. This amendment requires
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (the new agency created in
the big bill) to include recommendations from a small business advocacy
review panel with any proposed rules that will significantly impact small
firms. Additionally, the amendment requires the CFPB to inform the public of
how its rules impact small business access to credit. This survived a strong
pushback last week with the House conferees.
Roy Littlefield and Paul Fiore attended a lunch meeting with Senator Max
Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The meeting
provided us with an opportunity to discuss “cap & and trade” legislation as
well as transportation issues pertaining the Highway Trust Fund. While we
found the Senator sympathetic to our views on the relevant issues, we all
had to acknowledge the tremendous forces at play here. The battle will
continue on and since the oil spill, it will be hard to predict the
direction as yet.
Paul Fiore attended a meeting on June 23rd called by a few of the motor oil
refiners to discuss General Motors announced plans to specify a
highly-refined new motor oil that may exceed GF-5 specs. Some internal
company documents read as if GM is planning on creating a “cash cow” for
aftermarket sales. It’s early in this game but we are in the loop and will
keep you informed.
If you are still reading we’ll close with the latest from Healthcare Reform.
Since you may get semi-comatose every time you try to keep up with the
details we have been providing we will just say that the first Rulemaking
concerning the status of “Grandfathered” health plans has come out and if
you are interested SSDA-AT has an excellent analysis available. The
statement made by now-President Obama on the campaign trail about “if you
like your plan you can keep it” may not be the whole truth. If you’d like a
copy of this analysis please contact Paul Fiore at 301-390-0900 ext.102.
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