July 21, 2014
This Week in Congress
     Floor Schedule: The Senate plans to take up legislation that would provide temporary funding for highway construction and transit programs. The House will consider bills that would: authorize the Department of Education to conduct a competency-based education demonstration project; reserve $2 million from the Department of Education budget to provide financial counseling to recipients of federal student aid; index the child tax credit for inflation; and make permanent the tax credit for tuition and other education expenses.  Read more...

House Passes Transportation Funding Patch
     On July 16, the House of Representatives passed a short-term funding package to keep transportation and infrastructure projects going through June 2015. The bill, H.R. 5021, provides roughly $11 billion to the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to pay for on-going road and other infrastructure projects and safety programs.  Read more...

Internet Tax Freedom vs. Internet Tax Fairness Legislation Moving Ahead in Congress
     Both the House and Senate looked at the issue of sales tax for online purchases again this week in connection with other internet tax legislation. On July 15, the House of Representatives passed the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA), H.R. 3086, that permanently bans taxing access to the Internet, as well as multiple or discriminatory taxes on “electronic commerce.”  Read more...

California Department of Toxics Offering Workshop on Brake Friction Material Law
     The California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) has announced three public webinars and one in-person meeting for parties interested in the proposed regulations for implementing the California brake friction material law. The brake friction law already mandates minimal levels of some substances such as asbestos and further requires that any brake pads sold in the state contain no more than 5 percent copper by weight by 2021 and .5 percent by weight by 2025.  Read more...

U.S., EU Auto Regulators Hold TTIP Talks to Discuss Safety Regulations
     American and European Union automobile safety regulators met on July 17 to continue evaluating whether their respective rules pertaining to automotive safety achieve the same outcome. Under the auspices of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise & Industry and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have exchanged data about how their regulations have performed, and are now set to begin running tests to see if they can establish a methodology to determine if they provide the same level of safety.  Read more...

Mexico Says Used Cars Imported From U.S. Damaging Domestic Market
     Industry observers in Mexico are advocating for further limits on imports of second-hand vehicles from the U.S., saying such controls are key to stimulating the domestic market for new automobiles in Mexico. According to some in the country, the more than one million used cars imported into Mexico from the U.S. in 2013 are creating competition that undermines the domestic auto market.  Read more...

Commerce Initiates Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Investigations of Imports of Certain Passenger Vehicle and Light Truck Tires from China
     On July 15, the Department of Commerce announced the initiation of antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of certain passenger vehicle and light truck tires from the People’s Republic of China. This announcement follows a United Steelworkers (USW) petition alleging massive dumping and substantial subsidization of sales of these products by China into the U.S. market.  Read more...

Delphi Testifies in Senate Regarding GM Recalls
     On July 17, Rodney O’Neal, president and CEO, Delphi, testified for the first time regarding the company’s role in the General Motors (GM) ignition switch recall issue at a hearing in front of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance. Delphi was supplier to GM of the ignition switch which is now the subject of the recall.  Read more...

New Blog Post: Reaching Our Grassroots Potential
     The Auto Care Association government affairs team publishes a blog to offer some additional insight into what is happening in Washington, D.C., the states and internationally, and how that relates to the auto care industry. Read our most recent post here: http://tiny.cc/blog072114  Read more...

 
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