Speaker 1: Right now, let's say good morning too. The senior VP
Speaker 1: for Public and Government Affairs at the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association,
Speaker 1: it's Karen Bailey Chapman.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Karen, Good morning, and happy Monday, if you can.
Speaker 1: Call it a happy Monday. I agree. Yeah, okay, So Karen,
Speaker 1: before we dive in, because we're going to be talking
Speaker 1: about evs and EV mandates, I really quickly just to
Speaker 1: familiarize people with what your group does. What does your
Speaker 1: group do?
Speaker 2: So we are the Specialty Equipment Market Association, probably best
Speaker 2: known for the SEMA Show, which is the largest automotive
Speaker 2: gathering that takes place in Las Vegas every November. What
Speaker 2: we do is we represent the manufacturers, retailers, and distributors
Speaker 2: of after market specialty aftermarket automotive parts. So everything you
Speaker 2: do to your vehicle after you've bought it, because you
Speaker 2: want to make it faster, improve the engine performance, or
Speaker 2: make it cooler looking, list it, lower it, all of
Speaker 2: the fun stuff people love to do to customize their vehicle.
Speaker 2: Those are the parts that we make. We represent fifty
Speaker 2: two billion dollars in retail sales annually, as well as
Speaker 2: employee one point three million Americans.
Speaker 1: Okay, so now that helps us a lot as we
Speaker 1: jump into this. So your group is for moving to
Speaker 1: a cleaner car industry, but your group is not for
Speaker 1: EV mandates. And which are there are several that are
Speaker 1: you know they're looming and why why are you against
Speaker 1: the EV mandates?
Speaker 2: We believe that government should remain technology neutral when it
Speaker 2: comes to our vehicles, not only because we believe that innovation,
Speaker 2: as it's already been proven, can continue to improve emissions
Speaker 2: out of our vehicles just based on the technology and
Speaker 2: innovation that we have, but also to protect consumers so
Speaker 2: that they have the ability to purchase and have available
Speaker 2: to purchase the vehicles that best suit their needs, whether
Speaker 2: you live in the rural community or you live in
Speaker 2: an urban or suburban areas. So all consumers have different needs,
Speaker 2: and we have the ability to do things with our
Speaker 2: vehicles and innovate to cleaner emissions, but government, we believe,
Speaker 2: should stay stay out of telling us what to do
Speaker 2: and allow the marketplace and the innovators to accomplish accomplish
Speaker 2: the goals.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're basically saying that the private sector is
Speaker 1: going to get there, but you've got to give You've
Speaker 1: got to let them do it on their own timetable
Speaker 1: and not force it by saying you must do like
Speaker 1: California has done saying new cars have to be electric
Speaker 1: or hybrid by twenty thirty five exactly.
Speaker 2: I think we've as an automotive industry, have proven that
Speaker 2: we've been able to do more with less over the
Speaker 2: over one hundred years that the internal combustion engine has
Speaker 2: been around and in the marketplace. So I think we
Speaker 2: have a track record to prove that we're able to
Speaker 2: do that. So let us keep doing that. We believe
Speaker 2: that evs are part of our future, but they're not
Speaker 2: the only future.
Speaker 1: Okay, And Karen, you say that small businesses might not
Speaker 1: be able to shift to the EV industry fast enough.
Speaker 1: Which small businesses are you talking about the ones who
Speaker 1: trick out the cars?
Speaker 2: Well, that's actually our industry. Ninety five percent of our
Speaker 2: membership is small businesses. And so when you think about
Speaker 2: small business that makes parts for engines, that modifies engines,
Speaker 2: or any part of that powertrain, it's not simply just
Speaker 2: shifting over. If so many people like to say that, oh,
Speaker 2: you should just transition, Well, if you make mufflers, or
Speaker 2: you make intakes or you make pistons, or you make
Speaker 2: anything that's in that powertrain. Those don't exist on an
Speaker 2: eav and so you know, you're looking at entire swaths
Speaker 2: of the of the US economy, and especially the automotive
Speaker 2: sector simply just going away.
Speaker 1: Right, because we're talking about I can't remember what was it,
Speaker 1: Hurts or something got a huge fleet of electric vehicles
Speaker 1: and they said because they don't have any maintenance.
Speaker 2: Right, But then that's same. I don't know if it
Speaker 2: was Hurts or one of the other car agencies have
Speaker 2: also now been divesting of the vehicles as well for
Speaker 2: a couple of different reasons. But yeah, they've also been
Speaker 2: divesting of that fleet, and I.
Speaker 1: Think part of that was because if there was damage,
Speaker 1: you have to basically replace the car. You can't fix
Speaker 1: the car like a mechanic can fix the car. That's
Speaker 1: not really an option.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, Okay, exactly. And even look at what just
Speaker 2: happened in the wildfires in the LA area. How many
Speaker 2: people that were in those impacted areas saw evs that
Speaker 2: were burned up on the side of the road that
Speaker 2: law enforcement and emergency services couldn't just simply tow it away.
Speaker 2: They had to have special handling in order to remove
Speaker 2: them from the affected areas. So I think that right
Speaker 2: there is a proofing point in the LA area.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're lobbying Congress to just like say, hey,
Speaker 1: you guys, hands off, just let us get there on
Speaker 1: our own. Don't slap these mandates on exactly.
Speaker 2: So you've got California that pasted a rule that is
Speaker 2: putting this in place, the twenty thirty five ban on
Speaker 2: the gas and diesel vehicles. But the thing is, but
Speaker 2: under federal law, they have to get approval by the EPA.
Speaker 2: So in the days before the Biden administration left, their
Speaker 2: EPA went and signed off on this waiver. The issue
Speaker 2: that we really have with California's rule is the fact
Speaker 2: that eleven other states have signed on to follow it.
Speaker 2: And that's about forty percent of the American marketplace that
Speaker 2: are going to be under California's rule. California's exemption that
Speaker 2: was given to them in the Federal Claim Air Act
Speaker 2: was supposed to be for California only, not California plus
Speaker 2: forty percent.
Speaker 1: Okay, So well, California always says it sort of leads
Speaker 1: the nation. So are you going to Congress then to
Speaker 1: basically try to get something passed so that they can't
Speaker 1: do these mandates.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So one of the things there's always obviously in Washington,
Speaker 2: there's always a million different proceide rule ways to do things.
Speaker 2: And so one of the things that we're pushing for
Speaker 2: right now is with called the Congressional Review Act and
Speaker 2: what it does that allows Congress to issue an approval
Speaker 2: or disapproval of a federal agency's rule. So in the
Speaker 2: case of the EPA approving the California ban, it has
Speaker 2: been transmitted by the current EPA to Congress, which starts
Speaker 2: a sixty day window for Congress to issue a disapproval.
Speaker 2: That's what we're asking them to do, is to issue
Speaker 2: a disapproval of this rule that California has put in place.
Speaker 2: Not only will it stop this internal combustion engine ban
Speaker 2: that California has put forward for forty percent of the country,
Speaker 2: but also it's going to be one of the first
Speaker 2: times in a very very very long time that Congress
Speaker 2: is going to be able to really kind of tell
Speaker 2: California what is not allowed under federal law.
Speaker 1: Okay, Karen Bailey Chapman with SEMA, I would love to
Speaker 1: check in with you as we get closer and to
Speaker 1: hearing a decision on this, because I mean, it affects
Speaker 1: so many of us, you know.
Speaker 2: So hopefully absolutely would love to all Right, well.
Speaker 1: We'll plan on talking to you again, and we'll be
Speaker 1: watching what happens. SIMA, Senior Vice President Republican Government Affairs,
Speaker 1: Karen Billy Chapman.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you,