The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) withdrew a proposal to require employers with 10 or more workers to record certain work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in their OSHA 300 Log. An OSHA 300 Log is a record of work-related injuries and illnesses that many employers are required to maintain.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy recently released the 2010 edition of “The Small Business Economy,” which reviews the overall economic environment for small businesses through 2009. While the report outlines a challenging economic environment, there are also signs of improvement toward small-business growth.

As a result of its promotion of the specialty-equipment industry on Capitol Hill, SEMA has been invited to join the House Small Business Committee’s influential “Manufacturing Working Group.” The Committee has jurisdiction over matters related to small-business financial aid, regulatory flexibility and paperwork reduction.

SEMA-model legislation to create a vehicle titling and registration classification for street rods and custom vehicles has been introduced in the Washington State Legislature. The bill defines a street rod as an altered vehicle manufactured before 1949 and a custom as an altered vehicle at least 25 years old and manufactured after 1948.

SEMA-model legislation has been reintroduced in Washington state to prohibit cities or towns from enforcing an ordinance, development regulation, zoning regulation or administrative practice that prevents automobile collectors from pursuing their hobby.

Legislation has been introduced in Connecticut to extend the emissions inspection exemption to vehicles five-model-years old or newer. Current law exempts vehicles that are four-model-years old or newer.

SEMA is opposing Arkansas legislation that would allow cities to remove inoperable vehicles from private property if the vehicle is deemed a “nuisance” under a local ordinance.

A SEMA-supported bill has been introduced in Arizona to exempt all vehicles more than 25 years old, without condition, from the state’s mandatory biennial emissions inspection and maintenance program.

SEMA officials met with Peter Appel, administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) to discuss vehicle-to-vehicle technology (V2V) and other advanced auto electronics. SEMA is working with the RITA leadership to promote the industry’s contributions to V2V technologies. Connected vehicles have the potential to avoid crashes and make the transportation grid more efficient.

In 2003, a version of SEMA-model legislation to create an enforceable motor vehicle exhaust noise standard was signed into law in Maine. Prior to 2003, Maine deemed illegal all modifications that increased noise levels above that emitted by the vehicle’s original muffler. Under the SEMA model, an exhaust system modification is legal if it results in a sound level of 95 decibels or less as measured by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) test standard J1169.