The Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act (RPM Act) has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2021-2022 session of Congress!
The RPM Act’s new bill number is H.R. 3281. There are 47 original cosponsors (32-R) (15-D).
TIA strongly supports the legislation.
The RPM Act must be enacted into law to guarantee your right to modify street cars, trucks, and motorcycles into dedicated race vehicles, and ensure that industry can offer parts that enable racers to compete.
Now is not the time to take our feet off the gas. Even if you’ve previously contacted your lawmakers about the RPM Act, we need your voice once again now that the bill has officially returned for consideration in 2021!
Tell your U.S. Representative to do their part to finally save racing from government threat by supporting and passing the RPM Act into law this year.
Richard “Dick” Gust, a former Tire Industry Association president and current chair of the association’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee.
Gust, president national account sales and director of government affairs for Liberty Tire Recycling L.L.C., will serve as a representative of TIA and of the Waste Management & Recycling segment of the U.S. environmental technology industry.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo informed him of his appointment, which took effect immediately, in a letter dated May 7, 2021. The appointment will run through Aug. 16, 2022, when the committee’s current charter expires.
The committee’s role will be to provide consensus advice on the development and administration of programs to expand U.S. exports of environmental technologies, goods and services, and products that comply with U.S. environmental, safety and related requirements, Raimondo wrote in her letter.
Gust served as TIA president in 2005 and is a former long-time board member. He currently chairs the EAC, whose mission is to identify recycled manufactured products and environmentally sustainable practices within the tire and rubber industry and promote them through outreach (community, industry, stakeholder) and education.
“Dick’s appointment recognizes his distinguished work and leadership in the domestic and international waste tire recycling and reuse segments,” TIA CEO Roy Littlefield said. “We are honored to have such a well-respected and knowledgeable person as Dick representing the tire recycling industry and TIA on this important advisory committee.”
After conducting a field study of scrap tires in the U.S., the Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) of the Tire Industry Association (TIA) has updated to 25 pounds from 20 pounds the average weight for passenger and light truck tires taken off vehicles.
This figure, known as Passenger and Light Truck Tire Equivalent (PLTTE), is important because it is used in scrap tire rules and regulations in many states, according to Richard “Dick” Gust, EAC chairman. State agencies and organizations use the PLTTE to estimate the weight of materials in scrap tires and to determine scrap tire recycling and diversion rates.
The need to update the weight of the average scrap passenger and light truck tire came from companies within the scrap tire industry that suggested the 20 pounds per scrap tire figure was too low due to the increased size of passenger tires and the use of larger and heavier light truck tires on SUV and passenger vehicles. This led to concerns that the 20 pounds per tire was leading to the underestimating of scrap tire figures. “The new weight will give us a better number for scrap tires and the use of them,” said Mary Sikora, president of Recycling Research Institute and publisher of Scrap Tire News and an EAC member.
To determine the new average weight figure, Liberty Tire Recycling L.L.C. conducted a field study between March and April of 2020 in four states, according to information in a recently published EAC glossary of tire and rubber recycling terms and definitions. In Florida, Illinois and Utah 100 tires were measured as they were unloaded from take-off collection vehicles in a tire recycling facility. The average weight of these tires was 25.3 pounds.
A separate study in California over a 10-day period in April 2020 came to a similar conclusion. That study, conducted at the Lakin Tire facility in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., looked at 35,000 tires as they were being processed through shredders. Each day, the number of processed tires was counted, and the raw material generated was weighed. This study determined the average raw material weight from these processed tires was 25 pounds.
Armed with these results, the EAC wants to get the word out to the scrap tire and rubber recycling markets and government agencies to use the new 25-pound average weight per scrap passenger and light truck tires going forward when determining the number of tires recycled and the amount of raw materials generated.
TIA’s Environmental Advisory Council is made up of industry experts from various disciplines who can provide strategic information, advisory services, education programs and government assistance to promote environmental awareness, economic viability and sustainable best practices for every aspect of the tire and rubber industry.
The Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that the first monthly payment of the expanded and newly-advanceable Child Tax Credit (CTC) from the American Rescue Plan will be made on July 15. Roughly 39 million households—covering 88% of children in the United States—are slated to begin receiving monthly payments without any further action required.
IRS and Treasury also announced the increased CTC payments will be made on the 15th of each month unless the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday. Families who receive the credit by direct deposit can plan their budgets around receipt of the benefit. Eligible families will receive a payment of up to $300 per month for each child under age 6 and up to $250 per month for each child age 6 and above.
The American Rescue Plan increased the maximum Child Tax Credit in 2021 to $3,600 for children under the age of 6 and to $3,000 per child for children between ages 6 and 17. The American Rescue Plan is projected to lift more than five million children out of poverty this year, cutting child poverty by more than half.
Households covering more than 65 million children will receive the monthly CTC payments through direct deposit, paper check, or debit cards, and IRS and Treasury are committed to maximizing the use of direct deposit to ensure fast and secure delivery. While most taxpayers will not be required to take any action to receive their payments, Treasury and the IRS will continue outreach efforts with partner organizations over the coming months to make more families aware of their eligibility.
This announcement represents the latest collaboration between the IRS and Bureau of the Fiscal Service—and between Treasury and the White House American Rescue Plan Implementation Team—to ensure help quickly reaches Americans in need as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 12, the IRS has also distributed approximately 165 million Economic Impact Payments with a value of approximately $388 billion as a part of the American Rescue Plan.
Additional information for taxpayers on how they can access the Child Tax Credit will be available soon on at IRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021.