Biden Administration Moves Quickly on EV Charging Infrastructure Program
Despite the fact that President Biden just signed the huge $1 trillion physical infrastructure bill into law on November 15th, his Administration is moving quickly to implement the program that devotes $7.5 billion to building out electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. On November 29th, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a “Request for Information” from the public on several aspects of the EV infrastructure program (FHWA RFI). On December 15th, the White House released the “Biden-Harris Electric Vehicle Charging Plan” (B-H EV Plan), which matches some of the policy initiatives outlined in the FHWA RFI and provides some more guidance on the Administration’s EV charging infrastructure plan. ACRA’s Legal and Legislative Committee is working on developing comments on the FHWA’s RFI, which must be approved by ACRA’s Board and submitted to FHWA by January 28, 2022. For ACRA members not on the L&L Committee, if you have ideas or thoughts for ACRA to include in its FHWA comments, please forward them to ACRA’s government affairs representative, Greg Scott, by January 15, 2011 (gscott@merevir.com).
One focus of ACRA’s comments may be partnerships between ACRA members, utilities, and airports for airport EV charging, and ACRA members and utilities, cities and counties for local EV charging, to qualify for grants under the federal EV charging infrastructure program. Most of the EV charging stations funded by the program must be “open to the public,” but there appears to be some flexibility with respect to that mandate when multiple corporate entities combine to use the EV charging station (such as in a CONRAC) or when a charging station is located on public property but can service a fleet location (such as a company parking lot or a local rental location).
“Human Infrastructure”/ Budget Reconciliation Hung Up in Senate, But Far from Dead
Despite the wails of agony and gnashing of teeth from the White House and many liberal members of Congress, Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) statement on December 19th that he wouldn’t support the House-passed $2.2 trillion “Human Infrastructure”/Budget Reconciliation bill isn’t a death knell for that proposal – a key initiative of President Biden’s first-term agenda. Recall that the Senate is evenly divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans and Vice President Harris can only cast a vote to break a tie. So, Democrats can’t afford to lose a single vote on the Budget Reconciliation bill given that every Senate GOP member has stated publicly that he or she will vote against the House bill. What is now being discussed behind closed doors, rather than on Sunday TV talk shows, is what concessions Senators Manchin and Sinema (D-AZ)(another Senate moderate Democrat) will demand to secure their votes on a recrafted, and presumably slimmed down, bill. Once that “price” has been established, then it remains to be seen whether House Democrats (and President Biden) will accept those changes to their bill or let it die. This is a perfect example of potentially letting policy “perfection” getting in the way of policy “very good.” No matter your political leanings or position on this huge federal policy proposal, a Budget Reconciliation compromise can be reached between Senate moderates and House liberals. The real question is whether each camp sees that compromise as a “win” or a “loss” for their respective constituencies. Stay tuned in early January to see if the behind-the-scenes discussions bear fruit or whether the Democratic factions would prefer to run their 2022 re-election campaigns based on “what could have been” rather than what they actually accomplished.
A summary of the House-passed Budget Reconciliation bill is attached here for those interested policy wonks or insomniacs (BBB Summary). Key portions of the budget reconciliation bill of interest to ACRA members: (1) federal tax credits (30% of purchase price) for purchase of new commercial EVs and other clean fuel vehicles; (2) creation of the “Bureau of Competition” at the FTC to address privacy and data privacy issues; and, (3) no general increase in the federal corporate tax rate, but a minimum 15% federal corporate tax for companies with over $100 million in “profits”.
State Legislative Activity Ramping Up
State legislatures will convene soon and some states permit or require the “pre-filing” of legislation prior to coming into session. Based on reports from ACRA members, following are some of the state activities ACRA is tracking early in 2022:
- Hawaii: Discussions continue on tax issues regarding imposing property taxes on all cars – perhaps on a county-by-county (island-by-island) basis. ACRA counsel is collecting data from ACRA members on their Hawaiian operations to be aggregated and used for advocacy with the counties and the state legislature.
- Florida: Talks regarding personal injury protection (PIP) revisions are continuing; Governor vetoed prior effort and it is being redrafted in an attempt to address his concerns.
- New York: Has enacted a peer-to-peer car rental company law; a summary of the tax provisions are attached (NY P2P Summary).
- More New York: Vehicle Licensing Fee (VLF) expansion talks underway with leadership in state House and Senate.
- Massachusetts: Bill is up for discussion again regarding removing the sales tax exemption for rental vehicles. The bill is not moving but it is not dead.
- Colorado: Considering legislation on tighter notification timetables for ADA hand controls for rental vehicles.
ACRA Membership Activity
Despite a challenging year for the entire car rental industry in the United States, 70 new regular and associate members joined ACRA in 2021 – a testament to their belief of the value of membership in their industry’s trade association!
- New December Associate Members:
- Chargeback Gurus, Geri Dunn, McKinney, Texas
- Paramount Lender Solutions, Jodie Selby, Phoenix, Arizona
- MSC Consulting, Inc. Brett Lippel, Oak Park, CA
- Eric S. Rothman P.C. Consulting, New York, NY
- Pureline, Bob Sullivan, Bensenville, IL
- 2022 Renewed Regular Members (as of 12/31/21):
- 4A Road Forward LLC Priceless Rental
- ACE Rent A Car
- American Auto Rental, LLC
- AmeriMex Auto of FA, Inc.
- Auto Rental Etc.
- Auto Rental Services, LLC
- Avis Licensee Association
- Avon Rent A Car
- Budget Ketchikan
- Budget Rent A Car of Atlanta
- Budget Rent A Car of Norwalk
- Budget Rent A Car, Las Vegas
- Economy Rent A Car Corporate
- Ed Morse Automotive Group
- Eden Car Rental
- Edge Auto Rental Co.
- Floyd & Sons Inc. d/b/a Dollar/Thrifty Car Rental
- Gateway Auto Rentals, LLC
- Hertz/Thrifty Massachusetts
- Just Like That Auto Sales
- Landbird
- Larson Enterprises, d/b/a Avis MT
- Luxury & Imports Rent A Car & Leasing LLC
- McCurry Van & Car Rental
- Midway Auto Group
- Midwestern Wheels
- Slocal, Inc. d/b/a Hertz MT
- Sonjou Enterprises d/b/a Avis Rent A Car MN
- State Street Auto Sales
- Travellers Autobarn LLC
- U-Car Share
- Walser Specialized Services LLC
- 2022 Renewed Associate Members (as of 12/31/21):
- 1st Source Bank
- American Business Insurance Services
- Arthur Gallagher & Co.
- Dent Wizard
- Global Toll Services
- Green Motion
- Hawthorne Estimating
- Lancer Insurance
- NP Franchise Group
- Nu Car Rentals
- RentalMatics
- TSD Rental LLC
- Wheels Car Rental
- Williams & Stazzone
- Zurich American
Mark Your Calendars! 2022 International Car Rental Show
The 2022 International Car Rental Show will be held April 24 – 26, 2022 at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mark your calendars! Registration is now open at www.internationalcarrentalshow.com/register/welcome-to-registration. And remember, ACRA members receive discounted registration rates for the ICRS – so if you are not yet a member of ACRA, go to www.acraorg.com today and join the only organization that represents the entire American car rental industry – large and small companies, operators and suppliers!
2021 ACRAPAC Contributors:
2021 marked a record year for ACRAPAC – ACRA’s federal political action committee that enables ACRA members to speak with one “voice” through contributions to federal candidates – both in terms of numbers of individuals contributing to the PAC and to the total funds raised from individuals. Many, many thanks to the following individuals for their support of ACRAPAC in 2021! For more information on ACRAPAC, please contact Sharon or Greg.
- Bill Wallschlaeger
- Brett Lippel
- Carlos Bazan
- Cessly Bartlett
- Charles Arnao
- David Purinton
- Donald Hubicki
- Doris Cassan
- Eric Rothman
- Gordon Reel
- Greg Scott
- James Driessen
- James East
- Jason Kennedy
- Jennifer Gelder
- Jim Miller
- Joe Knight
- John Vercollone
- Kendrick Cargo
- Kirk Browning
- Leslie Pujo
- Mike DeLorenzo
- Paula Vercollone
- Phillip Spink
- Robert Krebs
- Rudy Callegari
- S. Marc Alacqua
- Sharky Laguana
- Sharon Faulkner
- Wes McCurry
- William Harris
