[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 670 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 670

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 29, 2011

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 and their political subdivisions 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 2011''.

SEC. 2. STATE FUEL ECONOMY REGULATION FOR TAXICABS.

    Section 32919 of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
     (a) in subsection (a), by striking ``When'' and inserting ``Except 
as provided under subsection (d), when''; and
    (b) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Taxicabs.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), a State or 
political subdivision of a State may prescribe fuel economy 
requirements for taxicabs and other automobiles if--
            ``(1) such requirements are at least as stringent as 
        applicable Federal requirements; and
            ``(2) such taxicabs and other automobiles--
                    ``(A) are automobiles 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 of such State;
                    ``(C) 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;
                    ``(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.''.

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:
    ``(f) Taxicabs.--
            ``(1) Emission standards.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), 
        a State or political subdivision of a State 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) Evaluation of standards.--If each standard of a State 
        or a political subdivision of a State is at least as stringent 
        as the comparable applicable Federal standard, such standard of 
        such State or political subdivision of such State shall be 
        deemed at least as protective of health and welfare as such 
        Federal standards for purposes of this subsection.''.
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