Did you know that some lawmakers are big fans of collector cars, vehicle exhibitions and auto racing? Many of these U.S. representatives and senators have joined the Congressional Automotive Performance and Motorsports Caucus. Likewise, state lawmakers have joined the companion State Automotive Enthusiast Leadership Caucus.
Priority Issues: State
Accelerated Vehicle Scrappage: SEMA opposes scrappage proposals. Where proposals can’t be defeated, SEMA seeks to amend them to protect collector vehicles, focus on gross polluters, use measured emissions values, allow parts recycling and include repair/upgrade alternatives. Scrappage programs accelerate natural vehicle retirement by allowing for the purchase of older cars, which are then typically crushed into blocks of scrap metal.
Our primary mission here at SEMA is simple: to help our member businesses succeed and prosper. One of the most important ways we do that is through legislative and regulatory advocacy. In a nutshell, it’s our goal to make your voices heard.
To that end, SEMA supports a dedicated and highly active team of government affairs experts on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. They’re focused on identifying and affecting issues that make a difference to your business.
Let’s be honest. Politics is something we all love to hate. However, over time and based on experiences with government on the local, state and federal levels, I have become educated to the fact that relationships built with government officials are vital to our industry’s continued existence.
More than 70 SEMA members met with their U.S. representatives and senators as part of the Washington Rally, providing a valuable opportunity to urge members of Congress to pursue a pro-growth manufacturing and job-creation agenda. Specific topics included support for the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act, which would create a separate system for regulating companies that produce limited quantities of specialty cars, and the ongoing need to address spiraling health care costs. Other issues of concern included support for comprehensive tax reform, ensuring small-business access to capital, preventing the sale of E15 ethanol and protecting reasonable access to federal lands for the off-road community.
Law and Order is an update of some of the most recent federal and state legislative and regulatory issues that could potentially impact the automotive specialty-equipment industry. These include issues affecting small-business owners and their employees.
Law and Order is an update of some of the most recent federal and state legislative and regulatory issues that could potentially impact the automotive specialty-equipment industry. These include issues affecting small-business owners and their employees.
Who are “typical” automotive specialty-equipment consumers? What is their relationship with their vehicles? How does that relationship influence their purchasing habits? And how can automotive specialty-equipment businesses reach them with their marketing? These are some of the perennial questions that drive the industry. SEMA is now offering the 2012 SEMA Market Segmentation Report, an in-depth summary of a recent, comprehensive look into these and other questions affecting every company in the specialty-equipment marketplace.
Below is a roundup of proposed or recently enacted legislative and regulatory developments affecting the specialty-equipment industry in key overseas markets. For more information on overseas developments, SEMA members are invited to contact SEMA Director of International and Government Relations Linda Spencer.
With a backdrop of state-of-the-art auto equipment, the 5th Annual Racing and Performance Expo in St. Charles, Illinois, was the perfect venue for a SEMA Town Hall meeting and the 130 SEMA members who attended. The evening’s special guest, Congressman Randy Hultgren (R-IL), provided insight on the current political and legislative landscape in Washington and heard from SEMA members about issues affecting business owners.