I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2395 

To enable State and local promotion of natural gas, flexible fuel, and highefficiency 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State and Local Fleet 

5 Efficiency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATE AND LOCAL PROMOTION OF NATURAL GAS, 

7 FLEXIBLE FUEL, AND HIGH-EFFICIENCY 

8 MOTOR VEHICLE FLEETS. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 

2 the term ‘‘fleet’’ means a group of 20 or more light 

3 duty motor vehicles, medium duty motor vehicles, or 

4 heavy duty motor vehicles capable of carrying 14 or 

5 more passengers, operating primarily in a metropoli6 tan statistical area or consolidated metropolitan sta7 tistical area, as established by the Bureau of the 

8 Census, with a 2000 population of more than 

9 250,000, that are— 

10 (A) centrally dispatched, or 

11 (B) centrally fueled or capable of being 

12 centrally fueled and owned, operated, leased, or 

13 otherwise controlled by a governmental entity or 

14 other person who owns, operates, leases, or oth15 erwise controls 50 or more such vehicles, by any 

16 person who controls such person, by any person 

17 controlled by such person, and by any person 

18 under common control with such person. 

19 (2) EXCLUDED VEHICLES.—Such term does not 

20 include— 

21 (A) motor vehicles held for lease or rental 

22 to the general public; 

23 (B) motor vehicles held for sale by motor 

24 vehicle dealers, including demonstration motor 

25 vehicles; 


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1 (C) motor vehicles used for motor vehicle 

2 manufacturer product evaluations or tests; 

3 (D) law enforcement motor vehicles; 

4 (E) emergency motor vehicles; or 

5 (F) motor vehicles acquired and used for 

6 military purposes that the Secretary of Defense 

7 has certified to the Secretary must be exempt 

8 for national security reasons. 

9 (3) PURCHASE REQUIREMENT.—For purposes 

10 of this section, a purchase requirement is a State or 

11 local legal requirement applying to the acquisition of 

12 fleet vehicles. Such requirements may specify that 

13 when a fleet owner or operator acquires a new fleet 

14 vehicle, such owner or operator may acquire only 

15 new fleet vehicles that— 

16 (A) utilize natural gas as a fuel, 

17 (B) are flexible fuel vehicles, meaning vehi18 cles that have been warranted by their manu19 facturer to operate on gasoline, E85, and M85, 

20 or 

21 (C) meet a technology or performance22 based characteristic that is commercially avail23 able. 

24 (b) STATE AND LOCAL FLEET REQUIREMENTS.— 

25 Nothing in this Act or in any other provision of law shall 


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1 be construed to limit the authority of any State or local 

2 government to establish purchase requirements applicable 

3 to fleets operating primarily within the jurisdiction of the 

4 State or local government if such requirements are in5 tended to further any policy regarding climate change, the 

6 control of air pollution, energy independence, or local eco7 nomic benefits. No such State or local requirement shall 

8 be considered to be an undue burden on interstate com9 merce. A fleet operating in more than one jurisdiction in 

10 any calendar year shall be treated as operating primarily 

11 in the jurisdiction in which the largest number of vehicle 

12 miles were traveled by vehicles in the fleet in the 5-cal13 endar-year period immediately preceding such calendar 

14 year. 

15 (c) SAVINGS.—Nothing in this section shall be con16 strued as granting additional authority to State or local 

17 governments to establish requirements upon the manufac18 turers of automobiles. 

Æ 


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