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09.06.22— California New Car Dealers Association had a very busy 2022 legislative session. Between navigating over ten different catalytic converter bills to negotiating new terms for Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP), our team has been hard at work advocating on behalf of California’s new car dealers.
Some of our top priorities this summer included Senate Bills 986, 1249 and 2311, and Assembly Bill 1311. Due to the extraordinary engagement from our membership, we made significant progress in defeating, amending, and laying the groundwork for future legislative efforts. Provided below is a status update on CNCDA’s top legislative priorities.
SENATE BILL 986
Nearly a dozen bills were introduced this legislative session to address catalytic converter theft. CNCDA staunchly opposed SB 986 (Umberg, D-Orange County) which would have mandated dealers – not manufacturers – permanently mark VINs on all new and used vehicles’ catalytic converters before sale. This unworkable mandate would not have addressed the core issue – rampant theft – and would have cost dealers millions to comply with this unfunded mandate. Not to mention, place an onerous burden on dealers as many are experiencing workforce shortages.
After months of trying to work with the author’s office on amendments, our team pivoted and called on dealers to ramp up the pressure, encouraging them contact their State Assembly member to urge them to vote against the bill. With minimal opposition and bi-partisan support, defeating the bill faced steep odds, but dealers helped us secure a major win. We are pleased to report that the bill FAILED, gathering only 19 votes, far below the minimum threshold.
This is no small feat and could not have been accomplished without the extraordinary engagement of dozens of our members. We want to provide a huge THANK YOU to every dealer that reached out to their Assembly Member and encouraged them to reject SB 986.
CNCDA looks forward to working with our membership and the California Legislature in 2023 on a common sense, workable solution to address catalytic converter theft.
SENATE BILL 1249
One of our top priorities this legislative session was modernizing California’s Document Processing Charge (DPC). While we made great progress on SB 1249 (Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera), we regret to inform our membership that the bill did not make it across the finish line this legislative session. But our work on this critical issue is not done, and we have laid a strong foundation for DPC modernization advocacy work next session.
Heading into the Assembly, SB 1249 received strong opposition from consumer groups, trial lawyers and certain statewide labor unions. We believe this opposition was in significant part in retaliation for our leadership on statewide PAGA reform. We made every effort to negotiate in good faith, but the Assembly leadership ultimately refused to allow our DPC solution a hearing due to this opposition – effectively stalling DPC modernization efforts for the year.
Although we are disappointed by this outcome, our long-fought battle provided us with the opportunity to educate legislators on the need for DPC modernization and on the wide range of services California’s new car dealers offer that benefit consumers.
We are encouraged that SB 1249 received unanimous support in the Senate. This was possible thanks to a months’ long full court press from both CNCDA’s advocacy team and dealers alike. The CNCDA team is prepared to capitalize on the considerable progress made and hit the ground running on DPC modernization come January session. Once again, thank you for getting active with us in this fight – the value of dealer engagement cannot be overstated.
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