MSADA seeking funding: the statewide auto tech training and recruitment program within the Department of Higher Education tied into high schools, community colleges, and potential employers, which was created in last year’s economic development law; and the auto tech training program administered by the state Department of Correction, which identifies certain qualifying inmates for training and placement as auto techs at repair facilities, including franchised dealerships, upon the trainee’s release from the state’s hospitality. As a result of our lobbying, the House budget included $75,000 in seed money for the Higher Ed program and $125,000 for the DOC program. The Senate budget also included the funding. Upon the resolution of the FY18 appropriations law by the budget conference committee, the funding survived legislative scrutiny and was affirmed by the governor with his approval of the overall budget.
CFPB Issues Final Arbitration Rule – Congress Begins Process to Repeal On July 10, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Obama administration gift that keeps on giving, issued a final regulation banning banks and other financial services companies from including mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts, including motor vehicle retail installment sales and leases, to prevent consumers pursuing claims of wrongdoing from joining class-action lawsuits. The rule will allow companies to include arbitration clauses in their contracts. Companies subject to the rule, however, may not use arbitration clauses to stop consumers from being part of a group action. You may recall, as a result of efforts led by your MSADA, other state dealer associations, and NADA, franchised dealers are exempt from CFPB jurisdiction under the Dodd-Frank Act. However, in yet an-
other attempt by the CFPB to adversely impact franchised dealership operations, this new arbitration rule will affect dealers due to its impact on other businesses dealers work with, such as finance companies. The rule includes specific language that companies will need to use if they include an arbitration clause in a new contract. On the day after the rule was issued Republican House members introduced a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to block the new rule, and the House ultimately passed the resolution by a vote of 231-190. The resolution, like most legislative matters the House has passed and moved over to the other side of the Capitol, now sits before the U.S. Senate. If the Senate passes the resolution and the President signs it, such action will have the effect of repealing the rule. This regulation is effective September 18, 2017, and applies to contracts entered into as of March 19, 2018. More information is available online at www.consumerfinance.gov/arbitration-rule.
New I-9 Form for Federal Employment Verification Starts Sept. 18, 2017 The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has issued a revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. Until September 18, 2017, dealers may use either the new form (7/17/17N) or the one marked “11/14/16N” when establishing a new hire’s eligibility to work in the United States. After September 18, 2017, dealers must use the new form (7/17/17N). The I-9 Form: • requires new hire employees to distinguish between a representation of U.S. citizenship or non-citizen nationality; • reduces the number of acceptable identification documents; and • prohibits the use of some expired documents to demonstrate citizenship or identity. The new I-9 Form and additional information on acceptable employment
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verification documents is available on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov. One can also refer to NADA’s Driven Guide to Employment Eligibility Verification for more information.
Register Today for the “eStar Qualified” EV Dealer Program by Plug In America Plug In America is targeting the greater Boston region for a series of electric car showcase events during National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) from September 9-17. Volunteers and community stakeholders host the showcase events. This year, with special funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Plug In America and its Massachusetts state agencies and Clean Cities partners aim to get more people behind the wheel of the latest electric cars available to consumers in the Northeast. The choice of Boston, including the Route 128 Tech Corridor, is designed to support the launch of Plug In America’s “eStar” qualified electric vehicle (EV) dealer program. As part of the program, participating dealerships select members of their sales team to serve as electric car experts or “EV geniuses.” Plug In America then equips these experts with additional training, tools, and resources to make selling electric cars easier and to simplify the consumer shopping and purchase experience. To that end, the eStar program establishes pre-arranged pricing with eStar dealers. It also ties in multiple incentive streams from automakers, dealers, state agencies, and other sources – that taken together can represent significant savings for electric car buyers. Plug In America also will tap a Google Ad Grant, which provides free Adwords advertising to promote the causes of nonprofits, to drive online search traffic to the Plug In America (pluginamerica.org/ dealers) and DriveGreen with Mass Energy (massenergy.org/drivegreen) websites. Once there, online tools and resources inform electric car shoppers about their
Massachusetts Auto Dealer AUGUST 2017
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