PARTS Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4121 To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transpor- tation to establish a motor vehicle recall assistance program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 1, 2020 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. BLUMENTHAL)) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Sec- retary of Transportation to establish a motor vehicle recall assistance program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Auto Re- 4 calls Toward Safety Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘PARTS Act 5 of 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4121 IS SEC. 2. MOTOR VEHICLE RECALL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 301 of 2 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 3 end the following: 4 ‘‘§ 30129. Motor vehicle recall assistance program 5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) OPEN RECALL.—The term ‘open recall’ 7 means a motor vehicle recall— 8 ‘‘(A) for which a notification by a manu- 9 facturer has been provided under section 10 30119; and 11 ‘‘(B) that has not been remedied under 12 section 30120. 13 ‘‘(2) REGISTRATION.—The term ‘registration’ 14 means the process for registering a motor vehicle in 15 a State (including registration renewal). 16 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 17 the Secretary of Transportation. 18 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 20 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec- 21 retary shall establish a program under which the 22 Secretary shall provide grants and other assistance, 23 including technical assistance, to States in informing 24 owners and lessees of a motor vehicle about open re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4121 IS calls on the motor vehicle at the time of registration 1 of the motor vehicle in the State. 2 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive as- 3 sistance under this subsection, a State shall— 4 ‘‘(A) submit to the Secretary an applica- 5 tion at such time, in such manner, and con- 6 taining such information as the Secretary may 7 require; and 8 ‘‘(B) agree— 9 ‘‘(i) to notify each owner or lessee of 10 a motor vehicle presented for registration 11 in the State of any open recall on that 12 motor vehicle; and 13 ‘‘(ii) to provide to each owner or les- 14 see of the motor vehicle presented for reg- 15 istration— 16 ‘‘(I) the open recall information 17 for the motor vehicle at no cost; and 18 ‘‘(II) such other information as 19 the Secretary may require. 20 ‘‘(3) FACTORS FOR CONSIDERATION.—In select- 21 ing recipients for assistance under this subsection, 22 the Secretary shall take into consideration the meth- 23 odology of a State for— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4121 IS ‘‘(A) identifying open recalls on a motor 1 vehicle; 2 ‘‘(B) informing the owner or lessee of a 3 motor vehicle of an open recall; and 4 ‘‘(C) measuring performance in— 5 ‘‘(i) informing owners and lessees 6 about open recalls; and 7 ‘‘(ii) remedying open recalls. 8 ‘‘(4) GRANTS.— 9 ‘‘(A) LIMITATION.—A State may receive 10 not more than 1 grant under this subsection. 11 ‘‘(B) PERFORMANCE PERIOD.—A grant 12 provided under this subsection shall require a 13 performance period of 2 years. 14 ‘‘(5) REPORT TO THE SECRETARY.—Not later 15 than 90 days after the date of completion of the per- 16 formance period under paragraph (4)(B), each State 17 that receives a grant under this subsection shall sub- 18 mit to the Secretary a performance report that con- 19 tains such information as the Secretary considers to 20 be necessary— 21 ‘‘(A) to evaluate the extent to which open 22 recalls have been remedied in the State; and 23 ‘‘(B) to enable a comparison of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4121 IS ‘‘(i) recall completion under this sub- 1 section; and 2 ‘‘(ii) existing recall completion data. 3 ‘‘(6) EVALUATION AND REPORT TO CON- 4 GRESS.—Not later than 180 days after the date on 5 which the Secretary receives from a State a perform- 6 ance report under paragraph (5), the Secretary 7 shall— 8 ‘‘(A) evaluate the extent to which open re- 9 calls have been remedied in the State; and 10 ‘‘(B) submit to the Committee on Com- 11 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen- 12 ate and the Committee on Transportation and 13 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 14 and make publicly available a report describing 15 the results of the evaluation under subpara- 16 graph (A).’’. 17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for sub- 18 chapter II of chapter 301 of title 49, United States Code, 19 is amended by striking the item relating to section 30128 20 and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘30128. Vehicle rollover prevention and crash mitigation. ‘‘30129. Motor vehicle recall assistance program.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4121 IS SEC. 3. RECALL COMPLETION REPORTS AND SCORECARD. 1 (a) REPORTS ON NOTIFICATION CAMPAIGNS.—Sec- 2 tion 30118 of title 49, United States Code, is amended 3 by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(f) REPORTS ON NOTIFICATION CAMPAIGNS.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each manufacturer that is 6 conducting a campaign under subsection (b) or (c), 7 or any other law (including regulations), to notify 8 manufacturers, distributors, owners, purchasers, or 9 dealers of a defect or noncompliance shall submit to 10 the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic 11 Safety Administration— 12 ‘‘(A) by the applicable date described in 13 section 573.7(d) of title 49, Code of Federal 14 Regulations (or a successor regulation), a quar- 15 terly report on the campaign for each of 8 con- 16 secutive quarters, beginning with the quarter in 17 which the campaign was initiated; and 18 ‘‘(B) an annual report for each of the 3 19 years following completion of the last quarter 20 for which a quarterly report is submitted under 21 subparagraph (A). 22 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—Except as otherwise 23 provided in this subsection, each report under this 24 subsection shall comply with the requirements of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4121 IS section 573.7 of title 49, Code of Federal Regula- 1 tions (or a successor regulation).’’. 2 (b) SCORECARD AND NOTIFICATION TO OWNERS AND 3 LESSEES OF UNREMEDIED VEHICLES.—Section 30120 of 4 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 5 end the following: 6 ‘‘(k) RECALL REMEDY SCORECARD.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 8 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 9 shall publish an annual scorecard of recall comple- 10 tion rates for each manufacturer submitting a report 11 under section 30118(f) during the year covered by 12 the scorecard. 13 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—The annual scorecard 14 under paragraph (1) shall include— 15 ‘‘(A) for each manufacturer submitting a 16 report under section 30118(f) during the year 17 covered by the scorecard— 18 ‘‘(i) the total number of— 19 ‘‘(I) recalls issued by the manu- 20 facturer during the year covered by 21 the scorecard; and 22 ‘‘(II) vehicles of the manufac- 23 turer subject to a recall during the 24 year covered by the scorecard; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4121 IS ‘‘(ii) the percentage of vehicles of the 1 manufacturer that— 2 ‘‘(I) were subject to a recall at 3 any time during the year covered by 4 the scorecard; and 5 ‘‘(II) have been remedied under 6 this section; and 7 ‘‘(B) for each campaign that is the subject 8 of a report submitted under section 30118(f) 9 during the year covered by the scorecard— 10 ‘‘(i) the total number of recalls issued 11 by the manufacturer pursuant to the cam- 12 paign— 13 ‘‘(I) during the year covered by 14 the scorecard; and 15 ‘‘(II) since the date on which the 16 campaign was initiated; 17 ‘‘(ii) the total number of vehicles of 18 the manufacturer subject to the cam- 19 paign— 20 ‘‘(I) during the year covered by 21 the scorecard; and 22 ‘‘(II) since the date on which the 23 campaign was initiated; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4121 IS ‘‘(iii) the percentage of vehicles sub- 1 ject to the campaign that have been rem- 2 edied under this section— 3 ‘‘(I) during the year covered by 4 the scorecard; and 5 ‘‘(II) since the date on which the 6 campaign was initiated.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:47 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4121.IS S4121 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS