Amending the Clean Air Act

Floor Speech

Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I am pleased the Senate is considering H.R. 724, a bill to remove a redundant paperwork requirement whenever a customer buys a new car.

Every new vehicle must comply with the Clean Air Act when it is manufactured and H.R. 724 will not change this. H.R. 724 simply eliminates an out-of-date requirement that auto dealers provide a piece of paper to each customer to certify that a new car or truck complies with the Clean Air Act's emissions requirements. Information confirming that the vehicle complies with all applicable emission requirements is already available under the hood of the vehicle and on the EPA's website, so providing the certification on a piece of paper is redundant. In addition to removing an unnecessary requirement, H.R. 724 eliminates 15 million pieces of paper that would otherwise be handed out each year with every new vehicle sold.

The bill was authored by Representative Gary Peters and Representative Bob Latta and was passed by the House of Representatives on January 8 by a vote of 405-0. I was glad to lead the effort to pass this bill in the Senate. I thank Senator Boxer, who helped ensure timely consideration and unanimous passage of the bill by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. I urge my fellow Senators to pass H.R. 724 so we can send this commonsense bill to the President to become law.

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