SEMA has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suspend the partial waiver issued last October to permit the sale of gasoline containing 15% ethanol (E15) for model-year 2007 and newer vehicles. While issuing the waiver, the EPA confirmed that there was insufficient test data to...

Ford and Lincoln are now accepting project vehicle proposals from SEMA members for the 2011 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The proposal submission deadline is March 1, 2011, and the award recipient notification deadline is May 2, 2011. Information on Ford vehicles is available here. Information on Lincoln...

A House Natural Resources Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on the U.S. Forest Service’s draft rule for managing the country’s 193 million acres for national forests and grasslands. Previous versions of the “Planning Rule” have been rejected by the courts in recent years. Among the...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued draft regulations to set fuel economy and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions limits for model year (MY) 2017–2025 vehicles. The fleetwide average will rise from 35.5 mpg at the end of 2016 to...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed SEMA-supported legislation to reduce the cost of burdensome regulations on business owners and job creators. The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011 would require federal agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis when issuing new rules.

As the state legislatures close down their legislative sessions, the SEMA Action Network (SAN) resumes its yearly feature highlighting the best and worst automotive bills of 2011. While some of these bills were enacted into law, many did not make it through this year and could be reintroduced in...

A bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to provide a tax credit for converting a used gasoline vehicle into a hybrid. The goal of the legislation is to help reduce the nation’s dependency on foreign oil. Businesses with fleets of vans, trucks and cars would be the primary beneficiaries.

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing to begin the process of rewriting the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The primary concern of some members of the committee is excessive lawsuits brought by environmental groups to enforce deadlines and force decisions on endangered...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wants to create uniform minimum standards to cover the types of keyless ignition controls being installed in many new cars. The goal is to make it easier for drivers to stop a moving vehicle during a panic situation and to alert drivers who...

The Internal Revenue Service has set the standard business-mileage deduction at 55.5 cents a mile for 2012. The rate is unchanged from when it was last revised in July 2011.