[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1741 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1741

To authorize States or political subdivisions thereof to regulate fuel 
             economy and emissions standards for taxicabs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 1, 2009

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize States or political subdivisions thereof to regulate fuel 
             economy and emissions standards for taxicabs.

    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 ``Green Taxis Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. STATE FUEL ECONOMY REGULATION FOR TAXICABS.

    Section 32919 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Taxicabs.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), a State or 
political subdivision of a State may prescribe requirements for fuel 
economy for taxicabs and other automobiles if such requirements are at 
least as stringent as applicable Federal requirements and if such 
taxicabs and other automobiles--
            ``(1) are automobiles that are capable of transporting not 
        more than 10 individuals, including the driver;
            ``(2) are commercially available or are designed and 
        manufactured pursuant to a contract with such State or 
        political subdivision of such State;
            ``(3) are operated for hire pursuant to an operating or 
        regulatory license, permit, or other authorization issued by 
        such State or political subdivision of such State;
            ``(4) provide local transportation for a fare determined on 
        the basis of the time or distance traveled or a combination of 
        time and distance traveled; and
            ``(5) do not exclusively provide transportation to and from 
        airports.''.

SEC. 3. STATE REGULATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE EMISSIONS FOR TAXICABS.

    Section 209 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7543) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(f) Taxicabs.--(1) Notwithstanding subsection (a), a State or 
political subdivision thereof may adopt and enforce standards for the 
control of emissions from new motor vehicles that are taxicabs and 
other vehicles if such standards will be, in the aggregate, at least as 
protective of public health and welfare as applicable Federal standards 
and if such taxicabs and other vehicles--
                    ``(A) are passenger motor vehicles that are capable 
                of transporting not more than 10 individuals, including 
                the driver;
                    ``(B) are commercially available or are designed 
                and manufactured pursuant to a contract with such State 
                or political subdivision thereof;
                    ``(C) are operated for hire pursuant to an 
                operating or regulatory license, permit, or other 
                authorization issued by such State or political 
                subdivision thereof;
                    ``(D) provide local transportation for a fare 
                determined on the basis of the time or distance 
                traveled or a combination of time and distance 
                traveled; and
                    ``(E) do not exclusively provide transportation to 
                and from airports.
    ``(2) If each standard of a State or political subdivision thereof 
is at least as stringent as the comparable applicable Federal standard, 
such standard of such State or political subdivision thereof shall be 
deemed at least as protective of health and welfare as such Federal 
standards for purposes of this subsection.''.
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