Images: SEMA

Have you been keeping up with all the legislative action that has threatened to affect the off-road community all year? Well now that legislatures all across the country have adjourned for the year, the number of SEMA’s Law & Order updates have slowed to a steady trickle. But no matter how many or few, we think it’s important that you stay informed, so here is this month’s Law & Order update!

In New Hampshire, a bill that allows the use of year-of-manufacture plates to be used on vehicles from the 1975 model year or earlier has been signed into law by Governor Maggie Hassan. Prior to the bill being signed only vehicles from 1960 or before could run year-of-manufacture plates, which made it tougher for some vintage off-road vehicle owners to obtain plates that paid tribute to their vehicle’s history.

A similar bill was signed into law in Rhode Island by Governor Lincoln Chafee which will allow the Division of Motor Vehicles to begin issuing replica year-of-manufacture plates for vehicles 25 years old or older. However, these vehicles are still limited to occasional road use for things like club activities, parades and exhibitions, that is unless the vehicle is fully inspected and meets all current inspection requirements.

On the Federal side of things, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) doesn’t intend to issue a federal safety standard in regards to tire age in the near future as originally planned. This is because with current performance mandates already in place, tires are much stronger and durable than they used to be, plus modern vehicles feature tire pressure monitoring systems that also help cut down on premature wear by alerting drivers when their tire pressure is low.

Though the NHTSA doesn’t anticipate issuing a federal safety standard in regards to tire age, they are purposing to add a third symbol to the 2-character plant code on all new tires manufactured here in the United States. This would allow the NHTSA to more effectively identify the manufacturing plant on tires now that they are running out of two-character plant code combinations.

The NHTSA also wants to standardize the length of the full tire identification number (TIN) to 13 characters with the idea that this will help eliminate confusion the current variable TIN lengths can cause.

In a final update, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill aiming to have the Endangered Species Act (ESA) reformed. If passed into law, the reform would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to report data used to designate certain animals and plants as endangered or threatened, make sure that individual state data was used in this process, and reveal money spent on lawsuits pertaining to the ESA.

While this is only just a start, this legislative action could be the start of a SEMA-supported reform that would establish and maintain smaller recovery zones, opening up previously closed land to OHV again.

As the race season comes to an end, it’s easy to get buried in your winter projects and not stay as informed about the industry. But with SEMA on our side and a watchful eye of our own, making sure the government doesn’t pull a fast one that could threaten the off-road community, we an ensure another great season next year!

Be sure to stay up to date on legislative action that SEMA is monitoring by becoming part of the SEMA Action Network. It’s free!!!