USTMA urges Congress to act on 6 'priorities'

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association has identified a half dozen issues it considers legislative priorities for the 118th U.S. Congress to consider, including increased use of retreads, funding for domestic natural rubber cultivation and action on a consumer tire information initiative.

"Members of USTMA urge the 118th Congress to collaborate to address important issues facing the U.S. tire manufacturing sector and the American public," USTMA President and CEO Anne Forristall Luke said.

"Federal regulations, investment and research must keep pace with the advancements in automotive technology, and our members stand ready to work with legislators and the Biden Administration to implement the important solutions laid out in our correspondence."

The USTMA laid out what it considers legislative priorities in a letter to Congressional leadership outlining key areas of continued cooperation to address the evolving areas of tire safety, environmental stewardship and innovation.

In past years, the USTMA engaged with Congress on policies to promote innovative infrastructure technologies and to position the U.S. tire manufacturing industry better to tackle various challenges.

The current priorities agenda expands that scope to include equal and standardized access to vehicle data assets and the development of a domestic supply chain of natural rubber.

The six policy areas identified USTMA and its members as priorities are:

• A unified North American approach to consumer tire information and standards and urge NHTSA to lead this process by publishing regulations mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 and the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015.
• Investment in the expansion of sustainable and circular infrastructure solutions for scrap tires, such as use in rubber modified asphalt in infrastructure projects and research to assess the benefits of tire derived aggregate;
• Funding for research to identify mitigation solutions for roadway runoff to ensure stormwater is protected as a valuable resource;
• Provide finance incentives—in the form of a tax credit for buyers or grants to retread producers—that would promote the use of retreaded tires for commercial vehicles, moves that would enhance sustainability and create jobs.
• Ensure fair, equal and standardized access to digital vehicle data and infrastructure assets, including real-time access to data and hardware resources to advance innovation of connected and autonomous technologies in the U.S.
• Federal funding to develop domestic sources of natural rubber, including support for farmers to incentivize needed investments to help them adapt to planting rubber-producing crops as part of the normal agricultural economy.

The USTMA published this list of legislatives ahead its annual "congressional fly-in," when the trade group enlists representatives of it member companies—dubbed Tire Manufacturing Ambassadors—to visit Capitol Hill to engage with Congressional offices on the industry priorities. Those visit are scheduled to take place mid-June.