Thread: Obama's Grow America Act will Empower Feds to enter Private Property to Inspect Vehic

Obama's Grow America Act will Empower Feds to enter Private Property to Inspect Vehicle Fuel Economy

Michael Bastasch 5 hours ago
9 Comments

President Barack Obama’s $302 billion transportation bill gives federal regulators the power to enter the premises of car dealerships to determine if their vehicles are in compliance with federal fuel-economy mandates.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) could see its vehicle inspection authority expanded if Congress passes Obama’s Grow America Act. Currently, DOT officials are only allowed to inspect records and information from companies that must comply with federal fuel economy standards.

But Obama’s bill would allow federal bureaucrats to enter the premises of car dealerships to physically inspect to see if vehicles are in compliance with federal fuel economy standards.
“What this amendment does is clarify that the agency has authority, for example, to enter dealership premises in order to measure the footprint of a new vehicle and confirm that it is consistent with what the manufacturer has reported to us the footprint of that vehicle should be,” a representative for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told The DCNF in an emailed statement.
The NHTSA is in charge of making sure that new vehicles actually meet federal fuel economy requirements as reported by auto makers. NHTSA said that automakers, not dealerships, are liable for vehicles not meeting fuel economy standards.
The bill “does not hold dealers liable, in any way, for variations in vehicle footprint, nor does it impose any kind of criminal penalty on anyone,” NHTSA added.
Federal fuel-economy standards — called Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE — require vehicles to get 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by 2025 as part of an effort to decrease the country’s reliance on oil and help fight global warming.
The DOT’s CAFE standards were set in tandem with the Environmental Protection Agency, which argues that raising CAFE standards will result in more carbon dioxide emissions being offset, helping the climate.
In February, Obama issued an executive order for the DOT and EPA to start establishing fuel-economy standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks, building on existing CAFE standards set for 2018. Obama said new fuel-economy rules would save drivers $50 billion in fuel costs and reduce oil consumption by 530 million barrels.

Obama’s new transportation bill would use billions of taxpayer dollars to fund new transportation and infrastructure projects and enforcing regulations. For example, the bill would allow federal regulators to increase penalties to companies that don’t recall their vehicles quickly enough.
“As the nation’s top regulator of the automotive industry, we hold manufacturers accountable for defect and compliance issues regarding their products and are seeking to further our ability to do so in the future, including increasing civil penalty limits nearly 10 times to $300 million,” said David Friedman, NHTSA’s acting administrator.
This, of course, is in addition to NHTSA’s authority to enter the premises of dealerships to make sure vehicles are in compliance with federal law. The bill allows federal officials to “enter and inspect with reasonable promptness premises in which a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment is manufactured, held for introduction in interstate commerce, or held for sale after introduction in interstate commerce” in order to “inspect with reasonable promptness that vehicle or equipment.” Federal officials may also “impound for not more than 72 hours that vehicle or equipment.”
“This change in President Obama’s new transportation bill, amends the part of the statute that has long given the agency authority to inspect records and obtain information from persons regulated under the CAFE, [medium and heavy duty] fuel efficiency, and new vehicle fuel economy labeling programs,” NHTSA told TheDCNF.
“Dealers are not directly subject to fuel economy requirements – fuel economy requirements apply to manufacturers of new vehicles,” NHTSA added.

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Obama's Grow America Act will Empower Feds to enter Private Property to Inspect Vehicle Fuel Economy : Freedom Outpost http://ow.ly/wnQOM



Obama's Grow America Act will Empower Feds to enter Private Property to...

Barack Obama’s $302 billion transportation bill gives federal regulators the power to enter the premises of car dealerships to determine...

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Joe the Plumber

Republicans and Democrats mis-manage and throw away our tax money that they steal from us and now they want more. When will we tell then enough is enough!!



Obama Proposes Tolls On Interstate Highways To Help Fund $302 Billion Transportation Plan

If the Obama administration has its way, the nation's freeways could soon become a bit less 'free.'
joeforamerica.com

Obama Proposes Tolls On Interstate Highways To Help Fund $302 Billion Transportation Plan

Posted by Joe For America on May 1, 2014 in Email, Politics, Taxes

If the Obama administration has its way, the nation’s freeways could soon become a bit less ‘free.’

The president sent a four-year, $302 billion transportation plan to Congress on Tuesday, hoping to jump-start a national debate on how to repair and replace the nation’s aging infrastructure while accommodating the needs of a growing population.

One of the suggestions: Charging tolls on the country’s interstate highways.

Action is urgently needed because the federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to run dry by late August, said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

Unless Congress acts to shore up the fund, transportation aid to states will be held up and workers laid off at construction sites across the country, he said.

Lawmakers in both parties have been reluctant to raise the 18.4 cent a gallon federal gasoline and 24.4 cent diesel taxes, the trust fund’s main source of revenue. The last time they were raised was 1993. Meanwhile, two decades of inflation has driven up the cost of construction, while revenue has lagged because Americans are driving less and cars are more fuel efficient.

‘The only way we’re going to fix this is if everyone puts their ideas on the table and has an honest discussion on how to find common ground,’ Foxx told reporters.

The bill would also encourage states to directly raise more money for transportation projects by loosening restrictions on tolling federal interstates. States are barred from tolling federal interstates now except if the money is used to add lanes or otherwise increase capacity, or if the highways have had tolls dating back to before the federal interstate highway program was launched in 1956. There have also been some limited pilot projects that permit tolling.

H/T DailyMail

http://joeforamerica.com/2014/05/obama-proposes-tolls-interstate-highways-help-fund-302-billion-transportation-plan/