GOVERNMENT RELATIONS REPORT
For the Win! The Inside Story of How the Auto Act Became Law
M
By Amy Schoppman DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS & PUBLIC POLICY
y family’s winter holiday
would loudly announce to nobody in
three days before Christmas, I realized
traditions involve cranberry
particular that I was headed to “the
that my long hours at The Turlington
champagne cocktails, a
office” (my bedroom) and was not to
Company could prove useful in
Lifetimeand/orHallmarkmoviemarathon,
be disturbed. After applying a well-
summarizing our legislative victory.
and an inevitable gathering around the
worn set of Lee Press-On Nails that
After contemplating my approach
fireplace during which my entire family
I’d swiped from my mom’s vanity
to this cover story over the holidays,
roasts me for my (admittedly somewhat
table, I would click my cherry red
I drew upon my early reporting
peculiar) childhood behavior. One year
fingernails on my desk as I reviewed
experience, dusted off some acrylic
we reflected on my second-grade
accounts payable (the mail), finalized
nails, and composed this (slightly
insistence on wearing Amish attire
contracts (did my homework), and
modified) 5W1H summary to convey
following a fieldtrip to Pennsylvania
composed Post-It Notes reminding
the history, context, and impact of this
Dutch Country. Another year we read
my administrative assistant (little
significant new law.
my childhood diary, discovering that
sister) to please stop eating the food
my New Year’s resolution was to “get
I put in the breakroom refrigerator.
revenge.” Our most recent walk down
I would also produce weekly
Memory Lane involved recollections
Trapper Keeper-bound reports on
of The Turlington Company, a fictional
The Turlington Company’s various
business enterprise that operated
projects, using my recently-acquired
under my direction as Founder & CEO.
knowledge of 5W1H—Who, What,
Upon arriving home from school, I
Where, When, Why (and sometimes How)—to summarize the company’s activities for its stakeholders (my G.I. Joe and Barbie Doll collection). When Congress passed The Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022
22
NMEDA Circuit Breaker
Not actually young Amy.
WHAT happened? We’ll begin with the end: on January 5, 2023, President Biden signed The Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act into law. Several auto mobility industry-related provisions were incorporated into this bill, specifically: Authorization for VA to provide an additional auto grant to eligible veterans if 30 years have passed since they received their first auto grant (and in 2033, that timeframe decreases to 10 years). In other words, the VA auto grant is no longer a oncein-a-lifetime benefit. A requirement that VA’s definition of “medical services” be updated to include certain vehicle