SEMA sued the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last October for failure to meet a 2016 deadline to issue a regulation to implement the replica car law. In December, NHTSA responded to a federal court of appeals deadline by issuing a proposed rule. SEMA and industry members have urged the agency to quickly finalize the rule, which will allow companies to produce and sell turnkey replica cars. Under the law, low-volume automakers may sell up to 325 cars each year that resemble production vehicles manufactured at least 25 years ago. The EPA and the California Air Resources Board have issued guidelines and regulations covering the engine packages to be installed in these replica vehicles.
Nobody likes moving. You carefully pack everything you own—and some items you didn’t realize you owned—and trust that they will survive the journey to their new home intact. It’s one of the more tiring and stressful endeavors in the human experience. Now imagine relocating your business across the country in the matter of just a few weeks. That’s exactly what the team at Hotchkis Sport Suspension did over the summer of 2019. Fortunately for them, their local elected officials were eager to welcome them with open arms.
The Michigan Senate passed a group of SEMA-supported bills (S.B. 344-346) allowing for the titling and registration of military surplus and historic military surplus vehicles.
The Kansas House of Representatives passed SEMA-supported legislation (H.B. 2420) allowing for the registration and on-road use of surplus military vehicles.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) granted exclusion requests for 47 List 3 products imported from China and subject to 25% tariffs.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to restrict access to nearly 2.5 million acres of land in three western states, including the designation of more than 1.4 million acres of wilderness areas.
SEMA-opposed legislation (A.B. 860) has been introduced in Wisconsin to restrict eligibility and raise fees for collector and hobbyist vehicle registrations.
Legislation (S.B. 506) has been introduced in West Virginia to create an Office of Outdoor Recreation.
Legislation (H. 855) has been introduced in Vermont to require the display of only a single, rear-mounted license plate for all passenger cars and trucks with a registered weight of 10,000 lbs. or less.
Legislation (H.B. 2528) has been introduced in Kansas to re-define vehicles eligible to be registered as antique.