ACRA 2022 D.C. Car Rental Conference – Operations and Policy “Boot Camp”
As this newsletter goes to print, there are fewer than 25 places left for new attendees at the ACRA 2022 D.C. Car Rental Conference and Policy “Boot Camp”. Don’t be left out! Register today and secure your discounted hotel room at ACRA Registration and Hotel Link. August 1, 2022 is the deadline for discount hotel rooms at the Conference’s headquarters hotel – the Westin Arlington.
While it is the nature of the beast that the best laid plans can go awry when planning a conference in D.C., attached is the latest schedule for the 2022 ACRA D.C. Car Rental Conference (Draft Schedule). The Conference starts on Sunday evening, September 18th and concludes on Wednesday afternoon, September 21st. Register now and avoid being shut out of the 2022 ACRA D.C. Car Rental Conference!
Senate Democrats Finally Agree on Scaled-Back Climate Package
After months of negotiations, Senate Democrats on July 27th announced a $400 billion agreement on a greatly scaled back “Build Back Better” bill. The House passed a $2 trillion BBB bill early this year, but that version was “dead on arrival” in the Senate due to GOP opposition. While there are hundreds of provisions in the new Senate bill, the ones of most interest to ACRA members may be: (1) federal tax credits on the purchase of used clean fuel vehicles (such as when fleets sell their EVs to auctions or at retail); (2) federal tax credits for the purchase of commercial clean fuel vehicles; and, (3) federal tax credits for the installation of clean fuel vehicle fueling infrastructure (Excerpts from Senate Climate Bill).
A summary of the full Senate climate bill, which is expected to be voted on during the week of August 1st, is attached (Climate Bill Summary). The bill’s prospects in the House are unclear and may not be resolved until September. Many priorities of House Democrats have been dropped from the Senate bill, leaving the question of whether the House majority will insist on its larger package or will accept the scaled-back Senate bill. Stay tuned for more developments.
ACRA 2022 Annual Meeting
ACRA’s 2022 Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, September 19, 2022 at the Westin Arlington during the ACRA 2022 D.C. Car Rental Conference. Additional details will be sent to ACRA members later in August
ACRA Seeks Seat on DOE/DOT EV Work Group
Responding to a public notice, ACRA notified the Joint Office on Energy and Transportation of the Departments of Energy and Transportation that ACRA should be considered for a position on the new Electric Vehicle Work Group that the Joint Office is putting together to implement the EV infrastructure provisions of the 2021 infrastructure law (ACRA Letter).
Full Expensing Coalition Moves Forward
One of the issues ACRA members will be discussing on Capitol Hill during the September ACRA D.C. Conference is an extension of the full expensing of personal property – adopted as part of the 2017 tax reform law. ACRA met this month with GOP staff of the House Ways and Means Committee in support of a delay in the sunset of full expensing (scheduled to drop to 80% next year). We learned that the delay would not be excessively expensive (at least in terms of the overall federal budget) at less than $3 billion for one year. We also learned that the GOP in the House and Senate support such a delay, particularly in light of a potential looming recession, while Democrats tend to be more skeptical of the need for full expensing at this time. It will be a priority of Conference attendees, during meetings with Democratic legislators and staff, to convince them that full expensing is an essential tax provision to the recovery and growth of the domestic car rental industry.
Data Privacy Bill Clears Committee in House; ACRA Seeks Amendments
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted overwhelmingly on 9/21to move a comprehensive data privacy bill to the full House for consideration. The bill, H.R. 8152 (House Privacy Bill Text), generally would require an individual’s informed and affirmative consent before ‘covered data” and in particular “sensitive data”, as defined in the bill, are collected by a company or a company’s representative. While this bill has legislative momentum in the House, it likely will slow down in the Senate due to the concerns of several key stakeholders – most notably the trial bar. ACRA’s leaders have examined the bill for issues of importance of the car rental industry and have started communicating ACRA’s concerns with leaders in the House and Senate (ACRA Privacy Bill Talking Points).
State Legislative Activities
- New York – The New York legislators, by wide margins, has sent to the governor legislation would expressly permit rental car companies to separately state and recover costs associated with registering and titling vehicles. This is commonly referred to as VLF recovery. Work continues on securing the governor’s signature on this important bill.
- Massachusetts – The industry remains vigilant on any efforts to repeal the state sales tax exemption for rental car companies when purchasing vehicles exclusively for commercial purposes. You may recall, the industry faced a significant threat on this proposal several years ago. Efforts are still being made this legislative session to repeal the exemption – which would be the first state to implement such an exemption. The industry is engaged to make sure any repeal efforts are defeated.
ACRA Membership Activity
New Regular Operator Members
- Courtesy Rental, Merced, CA
- Forward Auto Group LLC, Deerfield, FL
- Prime Rent-A-Car, Waldorf, MD
Renewal Regular Operator
- Easirent, Fort Lauderdale, FL
New Associate Supply Member
- Aurora Payments, Tempe, AZ
Renewal Associate Supplier Members
- Basham & Scott, Brunswick, ME
- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, OH
- Zubie, Bloomington, MN
