A bill has been introduced in the West Virginia State Legislature to provide owners of antique motor vehicles with an exemption from taxation and fees.

SEMA is opposing a bill to provide that the noise from a motor vehicle exhaust system that has been deemed “disturbing or unreasonably loud” constitutes the crime of disturbing the peace. The bill has been introduced for consideration in the West Virginia State Legislature.

SEMA-model legislation that would create a vehicle registration classification for street rods and custom vehicles and provide for special license plates for these vehicles was reintroduced in the New Jersey Assembly.

SEMA is supporting legislation that would amend the state’s current law governing historic motor vehicles to permit their use for pleasure driving one day per week. The legislation has been reintroduced in the New Jersey State Assembly.

At SEMA’s urging, Virginia lawmakers have abandoned a bill that could have banned certain exhaust systems. 

Lawmakers introduce a bill to ban the sale of “any aftermarket exhaust system component” that would cause the vehicle to produce “excessive or unusual noise."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a tougher standard for ground level ozone, the main ingredient in smog. Ozone forms when nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compound emissions from smokestacks, tailpipes and other sources combine in sunlight.

SEMA is alerting its members that a one-page form they may receive offering a "free" business directory listing is not free when you sign the form. Examples of these business directories include “World Business Guide,” “World Business Directory,” “Expo-Guide” and “The Fair Guide.” The guides are generally operated from Austria, Mexico, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain and other countries. SEMA recommends that you not complete these types of listing forms.

SEMA is supporting a proposal issued by Environment Canada to indefinitely extend an exemption which permits the use of leaded gasoline in competition motor vehicles. The exemption has been renewed several times since it was first established in 1996, but was set to expire in 2010.

The federal estate tax will likely be repealed for one year starting on January 1, 2010, but will then reappear in 2011 under its previous 55% tax rate on anything above $1 million. Efforts to pass a SEMA-supported bill to permanently freeze the estate tax at its current 45% rate on amounts above $3.5 million/individual ($7 million/couple) failed in the U.S. Senate. The House passed the bill in mid-December.