NIADA WASHINGTON UPDATE BY BRETT SCOTT, NIADA VICE PRESIDENT OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS.
NIADA is your voice in Washington D.C., advocating for independent dealers, the used vehicle industry and small business. Here’s a look at the latest news and NIADA efforts regarding legislative, regulatory, PAC and grass roots activities.
LEGISLATIVE
The bipartisan plan to shore up America’s infrastructure hit a roadblock when a procedural vote to begin debate on the matter failed in the Senate. Forty-nine senators voted to move ahead with the bill, far short of the 60 needed to pass. Republicans – including the 11 GOP members of the bipartisan group crafting the bill – voted to delay debate because negotiations are ongoing and the bill had not yet been written. The $1 trillion proposal includes $579 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, broadband and other public works projects. Democrats hope to get the infrastructure bill passed before the Aug. 9 recess, along with a larger proposal for $3.5 trillion in spending on social programs such as child care, Medicare expansion, education and more. The latter bill would have to be passed in the Senate through the budget reconciliation process, which requires a simple majority vote rather than the 60 needed to prevent a filibuster in a non-reconciliation vote. Some Democrats have indicated that bill’s price tag would go up if the bipartisan bill fails, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters the House will not consider the infrastructure bill “until the Senate passes the reconciliation measure.” 6 | THE FRONT ROW | WSIADA.COM Sep/Oct 2021
REGULATORY
Right to repair: An executive order issued by President Biden could be paving the way toward right to repair rules that would give consumers and independent auto service operations the same access to repair information, technology and equipment as automakers and their franchised dealerships.
The dashboard, available at datahub. transportation.gov/dataset/NHTSARecalls-by-Manufacturer/mu99-t4jn, is updated daily and displays recalls by manufacturer in easy-to-read charts and graphs, plus links to each recall. Users can sort and filter data, search by keyword and export data in CSV, TSV for Excel, XML and other formats.
The order, signed July 9, was aimed primarily at large technology and agriculture companies, but it addressed more general concerns in that context.
It’s another resource added to NHTSA’s VIN lookup tool (www.nhtsa.gov/recalls) and the SaferCar app, available for iPhones and Android devices.
Among those concerns was equipment manufacturers using “proprietary repair tools, software and diagnostics to prevent third parties from performing repairs,” which forces equipment owners to pay higher prices “for repairs they could have made themselves, or that an independent repair shop could have done more cheaply.” The order also “encourages the FTC to issue rules against anticompetitive restrictions on using independent repair shops or doing DIY repairs of your own devices and equipment.” That’s been a common practice for auto manufacturers, who have long restricted access to vehicle diagnostic and repair information by consumers and independent repair shops. Last year, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved an update to the state’s groundbreaking 2012 right to repair law that encompasses data transmitted wirelessly. General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and other automakers have challenged that law in federal court, claiming it’s unnecessary and creates cybersecurity concerns. A ruling in that case is expected this month. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: NHTSA has launched a new cloud-based recall dashboard to make searching for auto safety recall data easy and efficient. The dashboard offers user-friendly and transparent ways to sort, filter, visualize and export recall data.
PAC
NIADA-PAC went West for its latest Coffee with Congress session. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) met virtually with NIADA members from the 42nd Congressional district in California’s Inland Empire on July 20 to discuss a wide range of issues, including infrastructure legislation, vehicle recalls and government’s push for electric vehicles. Coffee With Congress is a series of 30-minute to one-hour online conversations that give NIADA members the opportunity to talk to the U.S. representative from their district to get the inside scoop on what’s happening in Washington D.C., and ask them hard questions about policy that could affect their businesses. If you’d like to have coffee with your Congressional representative, let me know at brett@niada.com and we’ll be happy to try to arrange it. More events are currently in the works, so keep an eye out for one in your district – and you could be having Coffee With Congress.
GRASS ROOTS New York: New York IADA and NIADA worked together to prevent harmful legislation involving recalls from advancing in the state legislature. Assembly member Jenifer Rajkumar and Continued on next page
