[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 431 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 431

      To amend the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             February 24 (legislative day, January 5), 1993

   Mr. Exon introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To amend the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND REFERENCE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Vehicle Damage 
Disclosure Act of 1993''.
    (b) Reference.--Whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is 
expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other 
provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or 
other provision of the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    Section 401 (49 U.S.C. 1981) is amended--
            (1) by inserting after ``reliability;'' the following: 
        ``that a designation by a State on the title that such vehicle 
        has previously sustained major damage or has been rebuilt after 
        being declared `junk' or `salvage' is an important factor in 
        evaluating the value and safety of such automobile;'', and
            (2) by inserting before the period the following: ``or 
        vehicles for which States have previously issued a title brand 
        indicating prior severe damage''.

SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS UPON TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OF A MOTOR 
              VEHICLE.

    Section 408 (49 U.S.C. 1988) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a) by inserting ``on the title'' after 
        ``disclosure'', and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h)(1) Any motor vehicle the ownership of which is transferred 
may not be licensed for use in any State unless the State discloses on 
the title whether records readily accessible to it indicate--
            ``(A) whether the vehicle was previously issued a title 
        that bore any word or symbol signifying that the vehicle was 
        `salvage', `junk', `reconstructed', or `rebuilt' or that it has 
        been damaged by flood, and
            ``(B) if it was issued such a title, which State first 
        issued such a title.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall--
            ``(A) not later than ninety days after the date of the 
        enactment of the Vehicle Damage Disclosure Act of 1993, 
        prescribe by rule the manner in which a State shall disclose 
        the information described in paragraph (1)(A) and the manner in 
        which such information shall be retained, and
            ``(B) not later than twelve months after the date of the 
        enactment of such Act, in consultation with the task force 
        established under section 140(a) of the Anti Car Theft Act of 
        1992 (15 U.S.C. 2401 note), prescribe the manner in which and 
        the circumstances under which States shall signify that a 
        vehicle has previously sustained major damage.''.

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