Taking the Hill
Minimum Wage Bill Passes In House
Moderate Republicans joined with Democrats to win House approval of legislation increasing the federal minimum wage by 90 cents after defeating an effort to exempt small businesses from all minimum wage and overtime provisions of federal law. If enacted, the bill would raise the minimum wage to $4.75 an hour from $4.25 on July 1 and to $5.15 a year later. The small business exemption would have excluded businesses with $500,000 or less in gross annual sales from the minimum wage laws. Workers now covered by those laws would have kept their right to overtime and be guaranteed at least the current minimum wage of $4.25. The minimum wage faces an uncertain future in the Senate.Industrial Rags And Wipes
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Solid Waste is considering an effort to reduce the Resource and Conservation Act’s (RCRA’s) regulation of solvent-contaminated rags and wipes. The agency indicated that this action would provide needed relief to a number of industries and create new pollution prevention opportunities. The move stems in part from the Clinton administration’s National Performance Review, which called on federal agencies to identify and terminate or rewrite rules that are inefficient or unnecessary. The EPA has begun preliminary work reforming rags and wipes regulations and is hoping to establish a criteria by which these materials could be exempted from RCRA Subtitle C. Currently, contaminated rags and wipes are sent to a hazardous waste incinerator. Treating them in- house or sending them to an industrial laundry has proven cost prohibitive.ISTEA Hearings
The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it will conduct a series of regional hearings on the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) this spring and summer. The hearings will focus on issues including safety, the environment, intercity passenger needs and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). In announcing the hearings, DOT Secretary Federico Pena reported that motor vehicle crashes are the leading killer of America’s youth. Total highway deaths have increased in the past three years -- from 39,250 in 1992 to an estimated 41,700 in 1995. ASA hopes to use these hearings as a means to place motor vehicle safety inspections on the national agenda.Florida Crash Parts Bill Stalls
Legislation to establish requirements for the use of genuine and aftermarket crash parts in the repair of collision-damaged vehicles stalled in the Florida Senate when that chamber did not act on the bill before ending the 1996 legislative session. Under the bill, motor vehicle auto body shops would have been required to use genuine crash parts in the first three years of a vehicle’s life unless the owner consented in writing at the time of repair to the use of aftermarket crash parts. In addition, the bill required that a repair estimate warn the consumer that aftermarket crash parts may invalidate any remaining original equipment manufacturer warranties on the part. Representatives from ASA-Florida, who had vigorously pursued this legislation, indicated that they will work through the year to ensure enactment in 1997.By Stephen B. McDonald, ASA government affairs consultant
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AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 7, July 1996