[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2395 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2395

To enable State and local promotion of natural gas, flexible fuel, and 
                 high-efficiency motor vehicle fleets.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 13, 2009

  Mr. Engel introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To enable State and local promotion of natural gas, flexible fuel, and 
                 high-efficiency motor vehicle fleets.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``State and Local Fleet Efficiency 
Act''.

SEC. 2. STATE AND LOCAL PROMOTION OF NATURAL GAS, FLEXIBLE FUEL, AND 
              HIGH-EFFICIENCY MOTOR VEHICLE FLEETS.

    (a) Definitions.--
            (1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
        ``fleet'' means a group of 20 or more light duty motor 
        vehicles, medium duty motor vehicles, or heavy duty motor 
        vehicles capable of carrying 14 or more passengers, operating 
        primarily in a metropolitan statistical area or consolidated 
        metropolitan statistical area, as established by the Bureau of 
        the Census, with a 2000 population of more than 250,000, that 
        are--
                    (A) centrally dispatched, or
                    (B) centrally fueled or capable of being centrally 
                fueled and owned, operated, leased, or otherwise 
                controlled by a governmental entity or other person who 
                owns, operates, leases, or otherwise controls 50 or 
                more such vehicles, by any person who controls such 
                person, by any person controlled by such person, and by 
                any person under common control with such person.
            (2) Excluded vehicles.--Such term does not include--
                    (A) motor vehicles held for lease or rental to the 
                general public;
                    (B) motor vehicles held for sale by motor vehicle 
                dealers, including demonstration motor vehicles;
                    (C) motor vehicles used for motor vehicle 
                manufacturer product evaluations or tests;
                    (D) law enforcement motor vehicles;
                    (E) emergency motor vehicles; or
                    (F) motor vehicles acquired and used for military 
                purposes that the Secretary of Defense has certified to 
                the Secretary must be exempt for national security 
                reasons.
            (3) Purchase requirement.--For purposes of this section, a 
        purchase requirement is a State or local legal requirement 
        applying to the acquisition of fleet vehicles. Such 
        requirements may specify that when a fleet owner or operator 
        acquires a new fleet vehicle, such owner or operator may 
        acquire only new fleet vehicles that--
                    (A) utilize natural gas as a fuel,
                    (B) are flexible fuel vehicles, meaning vehicles 
                that have been warranted by their manufacturer to 
                operate on gasoline, E85, and M85, or
                    (C) meet a technology or performance-based 
                characteristic that is commercially available.
    (b) State and Local Fleet Requirements.--Nothing in this Act or in 
any other provision of law shall be construed to limit the authority of 
any State or local government to establish purchase requirements 
applicable to fleets operating primarily within the jurisdiction of the 
State or local government if such requirements are intended to further 
any policy regarding climate change, the control of air pollution, 
energy independence, or local economic benefits. No such State or local 
requirement shall be considered to be an undue burden on interstate 
commerce. A fleet operating in more than one jurisdiction in any 
calendar year shall be treated as operating primarily in the 
jurisdiction in which the largest number of vehicle miles were traveled 
by vehicles in the fleet in the 5-calendar-year period immediately 
preceding such calendar year.
    (c) Savings.--Nothing in this section shall be construed as 
granting additional authority to State or local governments to 
establish requirements upon the manufacturers of automobiles.
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