Energy Task Force Part of MD Clean Car Bill
Tax Issues Put Off Until Next Year
Faced with an uphill battle against California Car legislation that has been thwarted for the past three years, Maryland dealersê highest legislative priority this year was to marshal the rising green tide of political pressure for a tailpipe emissions law toward a broader state energy law. The result, of course, is the Clean Car (i.e. Cal. Car) bill that the General Assembly passed in lieu of the Energy Commission dealers advocated. But included in the emissions bill is the Clean Car and Energy Policy Task Force which hopefully will keep Marylandês move to Cal. Car status on a track that is more scientific and factual than political.
When it became plain that the dealer-advocated Energy Commission wouldnêt trump a Maryland Cal. Car law this year, MADA, with WANADAês support, pushed hard for a state Senate version of the emissions legislation, which embraced the aforementioned task force that will include university energy policy experts working in conjunction with legislature leaders and members of the governorês staff.
We got this legislation in the best posture we could with the inclusion of the energy task force, said MADA President Peter Kitzmiller. And itês not going into effect until 2011, so it gives us three years to see if itês going to create problems for Maryland dealers, he said.
WANADA Chairman Jack Fitzgerald, who was a dealer leader of the effort to create an energy commission, said he was pleased there would be a body to bring the objectivity of science and the real world to the stateês new direction for regulating tailpipe emissions. Iêm disappointed that the legislature missed the opportunity for a truly comprehensive energy policy for Maryland that would have put emissions in the context of things like the need for alternative fuels and energy independence, Fitzgerald said. But we can work with the law the way it is and will do so over the next couple of years.
Cal. Car Challenge
Whether Maryland ever gets Cal. Car standards depends on the outcome of some key court actions brought by automakers against Cal. Car regulator plans. One case in Vermont, which is one of a dozen or so Cal. Car states, is looking at the authority of California to take emissions regulation to the next level, which is fuel economy. If Cal. Car states move to CAF regulation with the Feds, then the Cal. Car movement gets into global warming where it wants to be.
The U.S. Supreme Courtês recent decision in EPA vs. Massachusetts was seen as a setback for automakers when it held that EPA does indeed have the authority to regulate non-pollutant tailpipe emissions, such as carbon dioxide (the main ingredient in global warming.) If the U.S. EPA can regulate CO2, then the door is open for Cal. Car regulators to do the same.
The bottom line is if the court determines that states canêt go farther in setting separate standards, then the California Car thing is a non-issue. If it goes the other way, it remains an issue, but at least we have time to see what needs to be done, Kitzmiller added.
Other Bills
Maryland dealers dodged the bullet on some proposals, which included the perennial AAA vehicle key replacement bill, which failed, along with a draconian used car lemon bill.
A hidden warranty measure passed that will obligate automakers to notify new vehicle owners of warranty repair procedures which, ostensibly and heretofore, have been available only on a demand basis. Repair shops, dealer and non-dealer alike, may be required to add a repair order disclosure notifing car owners that warranty repairs they hear about from the manufacturer will need to go back to the selling dealer, which presents dealer service sales opportunities.
Tax Issues Avoided
Gov. Martin OêMalley (D) and the legislature did not substantively address the stateês reported $1.5 billion deficit this session. Tax increase advocates offered proposals, however, which included sales and use tax that would have roped in labor on vehicle repairs and advertising. Not surprisingly, a proposal was also offered to hike vehicle title tax from 5-6%.
None of this got any traction this year. Stay tuned, though, because the revenue raisers will likely be back with a vengeance in the 2008 General Assembly where the betting money is on tax increases, to some extent, across the board.
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