Capital Report: July 24, 2006
Please cut and paste the folowing URL link into your Web browser: http://www.magnetmail.net/actions/email_web_version.cfm?recipient_id=12875346&message_id=204699&user_id=AutoAfterM July 24, 2006 Capital Report This Week in Congress Independent Repair Shops Not Confident OE's Will Share Service Information AAPAC/AAPEC Committee Challenge Winners Nason Discusses NHTSA's Priorities Before Subcommittee Legislation Introduced to Increase Fuel Economy Standards House Judiciary Committee Passes Measure to Limit Liability for Durable Goods Senate Committee Examines High Payment Card Interchange Fees CPSC Votes to Finalize Hazard Reporting Guidelines Revision EPA and U.S. Customs Set to Crackdown on Recent Rise in Illegally Imported Engine Parts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Week in Congress Both chambers of Congress face another busy week with August recess right around the corner. The House is scheduled to adjourn at the end of this week for a five-week August recess. The Senate plans to remain in session for one additional week and then begin its four-week break. The House will begin the week with consideration of a business activity tax bill (H.R. 1956) that would require that a business have a physical presence in a state or locality for more than 21 days before they are required to pay business activity taxes in that state. The House will consider two sunset bills (H.R. 5766 and H.R. 3282) on July 27 that provide a framework for Congress to review government agencies in programs. The bills may be combined into a single piece of legislation. The Senate may take up consideration of an offshore drilling bill. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is expected to file a motion to proceed to the consideration of the bill on July 24. A cloture vote on the motion could come as early as July 25. The House and Senate are both expected to decide whether to consider a conference report on pension reform (H.R. 2830) and a vocational education bill (S. 250). The two chambers will meet on July 26 to receive Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee will hold a July 26 hearing on a progress report on protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights in the U.S. and abroad. July 27 will also see a House Energy and Commerce panel hearing on the "hockey stick" graphs of global warming in the Northern Hemisphere over the past few centuries. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Independent Repair Shops Not Confident OE's Will Share Service Information A full copy of the Opinion Research Corporation study entitled Car Company Vehicle Service Information and Tools: An Evaluation of their Availability to Independent Repair Shops is now available on AAIA's Web site at www.aftermarket.org. More than 1,000 repair shops were surveyed in the study that was commissioned by AAIA to assess the scope of the difficulties facing independent repair shops in obtaining service information and tools from vehicle manufacturers. The survey demonstrates that the independent aftermarket is losing $5.8 billion in service and parts sales annually because they are unable to readily access the necessary repair information and tools from the car manufacturers to properly diagnose and repair vehicles. The survey further discovered that independent repair shops turn away 1.8 million consumers each year because they do not have the information and tools to diagnose and repair their customer's vehicles. Other highlights of the study include: Independents found that either "much of the data" or "some of the data" was missing from information provided by car companies. Further, the majority of respondents stated that the manufacturers "never" or "only sometimes" provide all of the capabilities in their tools needed to complete repairs. The problem of missing data and tools is much more pronounced among the foreign name plate vehicles than the domestics. The top five areas listed as absent from car company supplied information were electric systems, driveability, engine control modules, anti-theft systems and emissions. Nearly one-half of respondents purchase repair information "as needed" and an equal number of respondents "never" purchase repair information from the car companies. Repair shops experience an average of 12 hours of lost work time or a 5.6 percent loss in productivity per month because of a lack of service information and tools available to them. 70 percent of the respondents have no confidence that car companies will always provide them with the necessary information and tools required for repair. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AAPAC/AAPEC Committee Challenge Winners AAIA would like to thank all attendees of the 2006 Spring Leadership Days in Hollywood, Fla. who participated in this year's AAPAC/AAPEC Committee Challenge. The winning segment this year was the Manufacturers' Representatives and the winning committee was the Board of Directors. With the generous support of the numerous AAIA segments and committees, we were able to raise $13,286.88 for AAPAC in the first half of 2006, and an additional $5,550 for AAPEC. Due to time and space constraints, we will unfortunately not be able to offer the luncheon we were planning at the Fall Leadership Days, Sept. 6-8 in Denver, Colo. We are, however, pleased to announce that we will be presenting all contributors from the winning segment and committee with large 5x8 cotton Capitol-flown flags as a thank you for their support. For any information or questions regarding AAPAC, contact Ryan Carroll at 240-333-1036 or e-mail ryan.carroll@aftermarket.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nason Discusses NHTSA's Priorities Before Subcommittee The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) administrator, Nicole Nason, went before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection on July 18 to share her vision of NHTSA's direction over the coming years. She told the lawmakers that technology has progressed to the point where crashworthiness concerns are giving way to emerging crash avoidance technologies, such as collision warning systems and electronic stability control (ESC). Nason claimed that ESC would possibly be "the greatest safety innovation since the safety belt." She informed the subcommittee that ESC's ability to prevent vehicle rollover would save up to 10,600 lives annually. While only 3 percent of crashes involve rollover, these accidents account for nearly one-third of all occupant deaths annually. Another top priority of the agency is to implement the recently enacted Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Among other issues, the panel of legislators also urged Nason to look into child safety measures, the problematic incidence of distracted drivers and NHTSA's role in setting fuel economy standards. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legislation Introduced to Increase Fuel Economy Standards Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., along with eight other senators, introduced the Fuel Economy Reform Act of 2006 this week, hoping to end months of discussion over increasing fuel economy standards. The legislation would increase fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks by 4 percent each year - about one mile per gallon annually beginning with the 2009 model year. Fuel efficiency standards have not been raised for passenger cars since 1985. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- House Judiciary Committee Passes Measure to Limit Liability for Durable Goods With a 12-2 vote, the House Judiciary Committee approved the "Workplace Goods Job Growth and Competitiveness Act" (H.R. 3509), which would limit product liability claims against manufacturers of workplace equipment. H.R. 3509 would preempt any state law that addresses actions covered by the measure, but would exempt regulatory enforcement actions brought by state or federal agencies. The bill would also exclude from the bill's coverage, claims against a manufacturer that fraudulently concealed a defect in a durable good, and manufacturers would not be shielded from liability claims, such as when a manufacturer had knowledge of a product defect and failed to disclose its existence. The bill creates a 12-year "statute of repose" that would begin to run on the date the durable good was delivered to its first purchaser, distinguishing the time restriction from a "statute of limitation," which runs from the date of injury or discovery of a product defect. Currently there is no companion bill pending in the Senate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Senate Committee Examines High Payment Card Interchange Fees The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on July 19 to consider charges by merchants that credit card company interchange fees are too high, and constitute price fixing in violation of antitrust laws. Several organizations representing merchants had filed complaint late last year claiming that banks violate federal antitrust law when they set interchange fees and are requesting that the federal government cap the fee amounts. During the hearing, merchants including the National Association of Convenience Stores and the Food Marketing Institute stated that the increasing fees have become a major operating cost for businesses and are significantly reducing their profit margins. They claimed in their testimony that the interchange fees are collectively set by the card associations, are not subject to any control by merchants and are not negotiable. Representatives from Visa and MasterCard highlighted the many benefits associated with the use of credit and debit cards that enable merchants to transact business more efficiently. The credit card companies also maintained that merchants have a broad range of payment options and that merchants can offer discounts for cash purchases. They further insisted that the disputes over the interchange fees are not a legal or antitrust issue, but a business dispute that should be resolved at the negotiating table. According to Senator Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the hearing is not intended to resolve the current litigation, but "Congress has the authority to codify the standards of antitrust, so we're ready to take a look." For a copy of testimony presented at the hearing, visit www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1999. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CPSC Votes to Finalize Hazard Reporting Guidelines Revision The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has voted 2-1 to issue a final interpretive rule on a revision to the agency's product hazard reporting guidelines. The reporting guidelines are intended as a clarification to companies as to when they should report suspected product hazards to CPSC. Companies are required, under Section 15(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, to file timely reports of product hazards to CPSC. Failure to do so can result in civil penalties. The recent vote adds four additional evaluation criteria to the commission's definition of "defect." The additional criteria are the obviousness of risk; the adequacy of warnings and instructions to mitigate such risk; the role of consumer misuse of the product; and the foresee ability of product misuse. CPSC staff will use these criteria to determine whether a risk of injury is the type that will render a product defective. Once an evaluation leads to a conclusion that a product is defective, a company then has a duty to report to CPSC. Failure to do so can result in stiff civil penalties. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EPA and U.S. Customs Set to Crackdown on Recent Rise in Illegally Imported Engine Parts According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in the last nine months, federal agencies have seized or turned away more than 11,000 illegal parts for gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles and equipment. The importers of these parts have been assessed almost $800,000 in EPA civil penalties, in addition to U.S. Customs penalties and storage fees. Recently, there has been a marked increase in illegal engine parts from China. EPA requires, under the Clean Air Act, that imports have emission labels. Many of these illegal imports are missing, or have false, emission labels. Consumers are advised to check for such labels, as products that are missing labels are likely to be illegal imports. For more information on importing engines and vehicles, visit www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/index.htm. *********************************************************************** 7101 Wisconsin Ave, Suite 1300, Bethesda, MD, 20814 *********************************************************************** Click below to unsubscribe: http://www.magnetmail.net/Actions/unsubscribe.cfm?message_id=204699&user_id=AutoAfterM&recipient_id=12875346&email=submit@theautochannel.com&group_id=22773