NADA Chairman Geoff Pohanka provided the below letter to WANADA, which summarizes the current legislative & regulatory agenda on Capitol Hill, in addition to providing insights from the most recent NADA Board of Directors meeting.
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The most-recent NADA Board meeting was held at the end of January in conjunction with the 2023 NADA Show in Dallas. As you know, I became the 2023 NADA Chairman and Gary Gilchrist Vice-Chair. Our industry faces significant challenges……but we are prepared to not only defend our franchise system but improve it.
Please view my introductory video and speech from the convention for an overview of our main priorities.
As usual, advocacy issues – including regulatory, legislative, and industry relations matters – were a primary focus of this latest Board meeting. A few key issues remain unresolved, and some more recent ones continue to evolve. But headway is being made on all. Of note:
- Work continues in opposition to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Vehicle Shopping Rule. The focus continues to be on encouraging proper – and bipartisan – Congressional oversight of the deeply flawed process undertaken by the FTC in issuing the proposed rule and the FTC’s lack of justification or inclusion of credible evidence supporting the rule (editor’s note: additional information is available from NADA’s latest “Capitol Insider” newsletter here).
- NADA continues to push the IRS for much-needed clarity about the implementation of the EV tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). NADA will continue to provide updates and clarifications as more information is available and will pursue opportunities to improve the EV tax credit and demonstrate that dealers are essential to advancing consumer EV adoption.
- NADA is more hopeful than ever that Congress will pass LIFO relief legislation, which will be retroactive. And in that regard, we are pleased to report that on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2023, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced the “Supply Chain Disruptions Relief Act” (S. 443) with overwhelming bipartisan support and nearly half the Senate as original cosponsors. This legislation is identical to the House bill H.R. 700, which was recently reintroduced by Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).
- Directors were briefed on the status of ongoing efforts to engage a number of OEMs in productive discussions related to various initiatives and proposals that would negatively impact dealers and our customers. NADA continues to stress, showcase and demonstrate the many ways in which dealer networks and the franchise system are massive competitive advantages to all automakers – regardless of powertrain. NADA’s work in this area has already resulted in vital positive outcomes for dealers, and they continue to make progress on a number of additional fronts.
The Board meeting was a tremendous way to begin the first NADA Show to be held in the Lone Star State since 1995. Attendance exceeded NADA’s expectation toping 2022 in Las Vegas with more than 20,000 attendees.
NADA’s next full Board meeting will take place June 6-7 in Colorado Springs. I look forward to providing you with another update following that meeting.
I wish everyone continued success and look forward to a great 2023!
Sincerely,
Geoffrey Pohanka
Chairman, Pohanka Automotive Group
2023 NADA Chairman