july 29 recycler update

Congress:
On Monday, Senate Republicans unveiled their COVID-19 relief bill. If adopted, the bill will cost taxpayers $1 trillion, which is far less than the $3 trillion HEROES Act the Democratic House passed in May. The Republican Senate bill will include business liability protections, direct payments of $1,200 to individuals, new Paycheck Protection Program funds, and federal unemployment payments of $200 per week. It is worth noting that the Paycheck Protection Program provisions will only allow businesses with fewer than 300 employees that have seen revenues fall by more than 50% to apply for a second round of aid. The Republican Senate and Democratic House will only have until the end of next week to try and hammer out a bill prior to the Senate’s August recess.

Executive Branch:
The inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be reviewing the agency’s rollback of federal auto emissions standards. The inspector general will determine whether the EPA followed federal regulatory requirements when the EPA along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revised auto emissions standards by only requiring 1.5% annual increases in fuel efficiency through 2026, which is a dramatic departure from the Obama administration’s rules requiring 5% annual improvements through 2025. The inspector general’s review comes after Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Tom Carper (D-DE) called for the emission rollback to be reviewed.
 
ARA:
ARA is pleased to announce the nomination of professional automotive recycler Nick Daurio of Daurio Auto Truck Inc. in Pueblo, Colorado to ARA’s Executive Committee. Nick will serve as the Executive Committee’s Secretary for 2020-2021. In the press release announcing Nick’s nomination, ARA’s Executive Director Sandy Blalock stated that “Nick like many of our members literally grew up working in his multi-generational family business… and his insights from many years of experience working in our industry will be an asset to the leadership and members of ARA.” For the full press release please click here.
 
ARA’s Board of Directors recently adopted an update to the association’s Strategic Plan, which will represent ARA’s current and future work. ARA's Strategic Plan is grounded in the Association's mission to advance the automotive recycling industry and promote its beneficial effects on society. The Strategic Plan identifies four strategic initiatives that are the means through which ARA plans to translate its vision into practice.

The strategic initiatives focus on branding, non-dues revenue, government advocacy, and education/certification/compliance. 2020 has been a game changer,” said ARA President, Scott Robertson. “During these challenging times and given the unprecedented impact that a global pandemic is having on all businesses and industries, the direction outlined in this Strategic Plan will help ARA continue to move forward. A lot of planning and strategic thought went into this document, designed to promote the professional automotive recyclers and their businesses for many years to come.” For the full press release please click here.

Industry News:
Last week at the Collision Industry Conference, a hot topic of conversation was that CARFAX has been getting vehicle repair estimate data. As of now, there is a leakage of vehicle repair estimate data somewhere in the supply chain. CCC, Mitchell, and PartsTrader have all come out and stated that they are not the source of the leak. The Society of Collision Repair Specialists is trying to find out the source of the leak.