MEMORANDUM. Suzanne Rohde, ABA Vice President for Government Affairs and Policy

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1 MEMORANDUM To: From: Re: ABA Board of Directors Suzanne Rohde, ABA Vice President for Government Affairs and Policy Government Affairs and Policy Board Report Second Quarter Date: April 9, 2018 I. OVERVIEW The following report provides an update on Government Affairs and Policy Division (GAP) activities since the last Board report, dated January 5, The report is streamlined to present the most relevant information, in a concise manner. II. LEGISLATIVE A. Legislation Since the beginning of the year, the GAP team concentrated advocacy efforts on the following ABA policy objectives: 1. Intercity Bus Security Grants With the assistance of outside counsel, Sean McGlynn from K&L Gates, we pursued funding for the Intercity Bus Security Grant program (IBSGP) in both the FY 2018 and FY 2019 appropriations bills. To date, as part of a larger strategy, we successfully met our goal of securing $2 million in funding in the final FY 2018 omnibus bill passed March 23, We are now in the midst of broadening our base of support for the program in pursuit of securing $7 million in the FY 2019 homeland security appropriations bill. 2. Lease & Interchange To continue pressure on FMCSA to address concerns with the lease & interchange rule, we are again seeking language through the FY 2019 appropriations process. This year we are asking Congress to include language in the appropriations bill to withhold funds to implement the rule, along with bill report language directing the agency to rescind the rule. This is a change from our previous requests, and we await to see Congressional reaction. 3. Airport Access GAP, working with its coalition partners, successfully negotiated an amendment for inclusion in the Senate FAA reauthorization bill, expected to be voted on later this year. By working closely with Senate Commerce committee staff through negotiations with airport interests, we reached a reasonable compromise acceptable to both Republican and Democrat staff of the Committee, positioning for success when the bill is brought to the Senate floor for a vote. Senator Wicker (MS) is expected to champion the amendment through the Senate floor process. We are now focused on gaining support in the House, to ensure the amendment remains in the final bill to be negotiated later this year. 1

2 4. National Parks The National Park Service fee increase proposals were initially expected to be finalized earlier this year, but it has yet to happen. ABA filed comments in opposition to the proposals, co-signed letters with other industry partners to express opposition, and participated in meeting with NPS leadership. GAP also hosted an NPS information session at the ABA Annual Meeting in Charlotte, where 130 attended. GAP also continues to promote member participation in SBA regional round tables to further regulatory reform goals. Also, GAP is working through the FY 2019 appropriations process, to obtain language to force NPS to conduct a formal rulemaking on each proposal. GAP is also executing a grass roots letter campaign with ABA members to contact their Congressional officials and express opposition. Reportedly, NPS plans to announce the final increases this week. 5. Data Access GAP is working with its coalition partners to oppose efforts to limit access to or restrict ownership of data generated by vehicles, as vehicle automation increases along with data generation. In addition to working on an amendment to the Senate AV-START Act, GAP is also participating in efforts to track the issue globally. 6. Infrastructure The President s infrastructure plan released on February 12 was not well received by Congress. It called for 1.5 trillion in spending, but only proposed $200 million in terms of federal dollars. The President, along with key Members of Congress, also expressed interest in raising the gas tax to fund infrastructure needs; however, Congressional Republican leadership balked at the idea in the wake of the tax cut bill. Prior to recessing for Easter break, Speaker Ryan suggested the House would proceed with addressing infrastructure needs through a series of small infrastructure bills, rather than a large package. Senator Thune has identified several bills already passed by the Senate Commerce committee that could be considered infrastructure bills, as well. The primary obstacle to passing any significant infrastructure bill is funding, on which there is no agreement. Nonetheless, the FY 2018 omnibus bill did include a healthy increase in infrastructure funding, providing a $21.1 billion boost for infrastructure in general, and over $8 billion for airports, roads, bridges, rail and transit. B. NOMINATIONS Thelma Drake, former Member of Congress, was nominated to be the Federal Transit Administrator, in February. In March, Patrick Fuchs, a former Commerce Committee staffer, along with Michelle Schultz, was nominated to the Surface Transportation Board. In April, the President announced his intention to nominate the current Deputy Administrator of NHTSA, Heidi King, for the Administrator position. III. EXECUTIVE A. REGULATIONS/GUIDANCE 1. Tolling/HOV: The FHWA issued final guidance to implement the tolling/hov equity provisions of the FAST Act (2015). A memo with information on the implementation of the 2

3 provision may be found here. As FHWA does not plan to take any further action in terms of enforcing the provision, ABA is pursuing actions to assist bus operators in ensuring compliance with the law. ABA held a conference call on March 28, 2018, and General Counsel Rick Schweitzer outlined ABA s intended course of action with the support of operators, specifically setting up an initial test case with the State of Massachusetts. 2. Electronic Logging Devices: The phase-in period where law enforcement withheld full enforcement of the ELD rule, came to an end on April 1, As of this date, the enforcement community began full enforcement of the ELD rule, including applying ELD out-of-service criteria and citing violations that would be factored into SMS scores. We are also waiting for FMCSA to issue its final guidance concerning personal conveyance use of motorcoaches under the new ELD rule. As well, GAP continues to monitor FMCSA actions on ELD exemptions, waivers and vendor malfunctions a current list is provided here. 3. Security: GAP hosted TSA for a successful a workshop on vulnerability assessments and security plan development at the ABA Annual meeting in Charlotte. GAP also facilitated a second workshop session in February for the Southeastern Coalition meeting. We also worked with TSA to develop a new video to aid compliance with the pending mandatory training rule, when it is finalized (it is currently at the final rule stage). The video should be ready for review and beta testing in June. TSA will also be updating vehicle ramming guidance in late May. 4. EPA Grant Programs: GAP provided assistance to members pursuing grants under the Volkswagen settlement agreement DERA option. Under this option, funds can be awarded by states pursuant to the EPA s Diesel Emission Reduction Act or DERA program. EPA also expects to issue notice and guidance on the annual release of DREA grant funding, in April IV. COUNCILS - STATE & LOCAL ACTIVITIES A. COUNCILS 1. BISC The 2018 winter BISC meeting in Charlotte surpassed all previous meetings in terms of attendance, with over 250 participants. FMCSA s Chief Safety Officer Jack Van Steenburg was the keynote speaker, and in addition to a variety of topics covered, a new up-to-the minute surveying tool was introduced. As of today, the agenda is set for the summer 2018 meeting to be held again in Linthicum, MD, and the BISC West agenda is under development. The summer 2018 meeting will be reconfigured to allow for 3 headline speakers instead of 1, as well as a site visit to the Bus Museum. ABA is also introducing new online registration features for the summer meeting, and has 2 new sponsors for the meeting. Preparations are also underway for the 2019 winter meeting, including development of the new ABA Driver award, sponsored by MCI; and development of the meeting agenda. As well, GAP obtained 4 new sponsors for the 2019 winter meeting. 3

4 2. BusMARC The registrations for the 2018 winter BusMARC, held in Charlotte, were the highest to date at 90 registrants. The meeting included site visits to Christian Tours and Trolleys Inc. For summer 2018, BusMARC will again hold its meeting in conjunction with the BISC summer meeting in Linthicum and will partner with Trailways this year. As to 2019, the site visits are secured for the winter meeting in Louisville, KY, to Free Enterprise and MCI. As well, BusMARC will again issue an RFP for its summer 2020 meeting, in the Fall of BusMARC is also undertaking a new initiative to partner with MCI (and hopefully other manufacturers) to produce the first American certification program for motorcoach mechanics. BusMARC is also exploring platforms to establish new benchmarking comparisons. 3. EMC GAP assisted EMC members, on an ongoing basis, to file comments to the USDOT regulatory reform initiative from last fall, to address regulatory concerns with seatbelts on entertainer motorcoaches. GAP also developed a template and assisted EMC members with a letter writing campaign to Congressional representatives concerning seatbelt regulatory concerns. Roughly 30% of the EMC members participated in these efforts, to date. GAP also assisted ABA General Counsel Rick Schweitzer with preparation of a NHTSA petition to seek an exemption from the seatbelt regulation for EMC members, by distributing a survey for the collection of data to support the petition. To date, more than 30 companies have contributed responded with information. The next EMC meeting will be held May 15, in Nashville. B. STATE/LOCAL ISSUES The GAP team, at times in coordination with ABA s General Counsel, assisted state and local associations with various local and regional issues. On April 10, ABA will host a meeting with UMA and California Bus Association members to discuss the ongoing inspection issues at SFO airport. V. OPERATIONS 1. Fly-In On April 10-11, ABA is joining with the United Motorcoach Association (UMA) to conduct a joint Washington D.C. legislative fly-in. The event was initially put together by UMA, and GAP has supported UMA s staff and consultants to organize and prepare for the event. 2. Leadership Meetings At the request of Board leadership, GAP is arranging high level Congressional meetings for ABA leadership. The first of these leadership meeting with take place on April 17, and ABA leaders will be meeting with the Chairman and Ranking members of the House T&I Committee (Congressman Shuster and DeFazio, respectively), along with the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation (Congressman Graves and Delegate Norton) and the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on surface transportation (Senator Fischer). 4

5 3. Amphibious Passenger Vehicle Summit The GAP team also supported the Amphibious Safety Summit, jointly sponsored by ABA and the Passenger Vehicle Association held on Wednesday, February 28. The event was the first of its kind, intended to inform on the unique characteristics and safety issues involved with vessels that transport passengers on land and water, jointly. V. BusPAC Currently, the BusPAC account balance stands at $229,234. The start of 2018 saw a healthy uptick in contributions due to the successful contribution and visibility campaign at ABA s Annual Meeting and Marketplace. To date, BusPAC has received near $23,000 this year, with a goal of $100,000. With the upcoming mid-term elections, and much hanging in the balance, ABA s PAC contributions are in high demand; however, ABA is using the funds strategically to support candidates supportive of our industry. This year, thus far, GAP and/or President Pantuso have attended 9 events, including two events hosted by BusPAC, and contributed $14,000. However, it is critical ABA replenish the BusPAC fund to remain relevant in Washington, D.C. 5