II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3428 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit against 

income tax to facilitate the accelerated development and deployment 

of advanced safety systems for commercial motor vehicles. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2008 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. VOINOVICH, and Mrs. DOLE) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a credit against income tax to facilitate the accelerated 

development and deployment of advanced safety systems 

for commercial motor vehicles. 

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 ‘‘Commercial Motor Ve5 hicle Advanced Safety Technology Tax Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

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1 (1) Commercial motor vehicle crashes are a pri2 mary source of concern in the United States, par3 ticularly in light of the increasing numbers of trucks 

4 and motorcoaches on our Nation’s highways. 

5 (2) A 2004 report by the National Cooperative 

6 Highway Research Program found that when a large 

7 truck is involved in a crash, it is about 2.6 times as 

8 likely to result in a fatality compared with passenger 

9 cars. 

10 (3) In 2006, 4,995 individuals died and 

11 106,000 individuals were injured as a result of large 

12 truck-involved crashes in the United States. Overall, 

13 from 2001 to 2006, there have been 30,556 large 

14 truck-involved fatalities in the United States. 

15 (4) In addition to the tremendous human loss, 

16 these crashes also impose a significant economic cost 

17 on society. The Department of Transportation esti18 mates that highway crashes cost society 

19 $230,600,000,000 a year, about $820 per person. A 

20 2006 report issued by the Federal Motor Carrier 

21 Safety Administration determined that the estimated 

22 cost of each crash involving a truck with a gross ve23 hicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds is 

24 $91,112 while the average cost of a fatal crash is 

25 $3,604,518. 

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1 (5) Investments by vehicle suppliers and truck 

2 and motorcoach manufacturers in research and inno3 vative design have created a new generation of ad4 vanced safety systems and technologies. 

5 (6) Advanced safety technologies will directly 

6 address, and help mitigate the effects of, commercial 

7 motor vehicle crash scenarios. 

8 (7) The Department of Transportation has set 

9 a goal to reduce the traffic fatality rate to 1.0 per 

10 hundred million vehicle miles traveled by 2011. 

11 (8) The accelerated production, sale, and de12 ployment of advanced safety technologies on com13 mercial motor vehicles can speed the progress to14 ward this critical goal and reduce the daily injuries 

15 and fatalities on the Nation’s roads and highways. 

16 This progress would also help to mitigate the soci17 etal cost of these crashes. 

18 (9) Therefore, Congress finds that it is in the 

19 interest of the United States to increase the deploy20 ment of advanced vehicle safety technologies on com21 mercial motor vehicles in the domestic market by 

22 providing businesses with tax incentives, designed to 

23 make such systems more affordable for purchase. 

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1 SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR ADVANCED COMMERCIAL VEHICLE 

2 SAFETY SYSTEMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986 (relating to business related credits) is amended by 

6 adding at the end the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 45Q. CREDIT FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ADVANCED 

8 SAFETY SYSTEMS. 

9 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—For purposes of sec10 tion 38, the commercial vehicle advanced safety system 

11 credit determined under this section is an amount equal 

12 to 50 percent of the cost of any qualified commercial vehi13 cle advanced safety system placed in service by the tax14 payer during the taxable year. 

15 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) PER SYSTEM.—The credit allowable under 

17 subsection (a) for each qualified commercial vehicle 

18 advanced safety system shall not exceed $1,500. 

19 ‘‘(2) PER VEHICLE.—The credit allowable 

20 under subsection (a) with respect to property for 

21 each qualified commercial vehicle shall not exceed— 

22 ‘‘(A) $3,500, reduced by 

23 ‘‘(B) the aggregate amount of credit al24 lowed to the taxpayer under this section with 

25 respect to such vehicle for all prior taxable 

26 years. 

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1 ‘‘(3) PER TAXPAYER.—The credit allowable 

2 under subsection (a) to the taxpayer for the taxable 

3 year shall not exceed $350,000. 

4 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ADVANCED

5 SAFETY SYSTEM.—For purposes of this section, the term 

6 ‘qualified commercial vehicle advanced safety system’ 

7 means any property which is part of a system installed 

8 on a qualified commercial vehicle if— 

9 ‘‘(1)(A) such system is a brake stroke moni10 toring system, lane departure warning system, colli11 sion warning system, or vehicle stability system, or 

12 ‘‘(B) such system is specifically identified by 

13 the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier 

14 Safety Administration or the Administrator of the 

15 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 

16 the purposes of this paragraph as significantly en17 hancing the safety or security of the driver, vehicle, 

18 passengers, or load of a qualified commercial vehicle 

19 and such identification is in effect as of the date 

20 such system is placed in service by the taxpayer, 

21 ‘‘(2) such system is certified by the manufac22 turer of such system (before such vehicle is first 

23 used by the taxpayer for its intended purpose after 

24 installation of such system)— 

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1 ‘‘(A) to be appropriate for the make, type, 

2 and model of the qualified commercial vehicle 

3 on which it is to be installed, and 

4 ‘‘(B) to function as designed if installed 

5 properly, 

6 ‘‘(3) in the case of a system which is not in7 stalled by the manufacturer of the qualified commer8 cial vehicle or by an installer authorized by the man9 ufacturer of such system, such system is certified by 

10 the installer of such system to be properly installed 

11 and functioning on the vehicle before such vehicle is 

12 first used by the taxpayer for its intended purpose 

13 after installation of such system, 

14 ‘‘(4) the original use of such system begins with 

15 the taxpayer, and 

16 ‘‘(5) depreciation (or amortization in lieu of de17 preciation) is allowable with respect to such system. 

18 ‘‘(d) QUALIFIED COMMERCIAL VEHICLE.—For pur19 poses of this section— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified com21 mercial vehicle’ means any highway motor vehicle 

22 if— 

23 ‘‘(A) such vehicle— 

24 ‘‘(i) is to be used to transport persons 

25 or property in commerce, and 

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1 ‘‘(ii) has a gross combination weight 

2 rating or a gross vehicle weight rating of 

3 26,001 pounds or more, or 

4 ‘‘(iii) the seating capacity of which is 

5 at least 15 individuals (not including the 

6 driver), 

7 ‘‘(B) the seating capacity of such vehicle is 

8 at least 11 individuals (not including the driver) 

9 and such vehicle is reasonably expected to be 

10 used as a school bus (as defined in section 

11 4221(d)(7)(C)), or 

12 ‘‘(C) such vehicle is reasonably expected to 

13 be used as an intercity or local bus (as defined 

14 in section 4221(d)(7)(B)). 

15 ‘‘(e) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 

16 section— 

17 ‘‘(1) BRAKE STROKE MONITORING SYSTEM.— 

18 The term ‘brake stroke monitoring system’ means 

19 any onboard-monitoring system for air-braked vehi20 cles that— 

21 ‘‘(A) uses electronic sensors to determine if 

22 the brakes are out of adjustment, not oper23 ational, or not fully releasing, and 

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1 ‘‘(B) displays warnings to the driver show2 ing the existence and exact location and nature 

3 of the problem. 

4 ‘‘(2) LANE DEPARTURE WARNING SYSTEM.— 

5 The term ‘lane departure warning system’ means 

6 any system that alerts a driver (including audio, vis7 ual, and tactile warnings) of unintended movement 

8 out of the lane of travel or of an object or vehicle 

9 in the adjacent lane blind spot. 

10 ‘‘(3) COLLISION WARNING SYSTEM.—The term 

11 ‘collision warning system’ means any system that 

12 monitors the roadway in front or to the rear of the 

13 vehicle and warns the driver when a potential colli14 sion risk exists by providing the driver with an audi15 ble, visual, or tactile notification. 

16 ‘‘(4) VEHICLE STABILITY SYSTEM.—The term 

17 ‘vehicle stability system’ means any active safety 

18 system that automatically intervenes when there is a 

19 high risk of rollover or directional instability. For 

20 purposes of the preceding sentence, active interven21 tions include automatically reducing vehicle speed or 

22 by selectively applying appropriate brakes to better 

23 align the vehicle to the appropriate path of travel. 

24 ‘‘(f) CONTROLLED GROUPS.— 

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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec2 tion, all persons treated as a single employer under 

3 subsection (a) or (b) of section 52 or subsection (m) 

4 or (o) of section 414 shall be treated as a single tax5 payer. 

6 ‘‘(2) INCLUSION OF FOREIGN CORPORATIONS.— 

7 For purposes of paragraph (1), in applying sub8 sections (a) and (b) of section 52 to this section, sec9 tion 1563 shall be applied without regard to sub10 section (b)(2)(C) thereof. 

11 ‘‘(g) SPECIAL RULES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) BASIS REDUCTION.—The basis of any 

13 property for which a credit is allowable under sub14 section (a) shall be reduced by the amount of such 

15 credit. 

16 ‘‘(2) RECAPTURE.—The Secretary shall, by reg17 ulations, provide for recapturing the benefit of any 

18 credit allowable under subsection (a) with respect to 

19 any property which ceases to be property eligible for 

20 such credit. 

21 ‘‘(3) PROPERTY USED OUTSIDE UNITED STATES

22 NOT QUALIFIED.—No credit shall be allowed under 

23 subsection (a) with respect to any property referred 

24 to in section 50(b)(1) or with respect to the portion 

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1 of the cost of any property taken into account under 

2 section 179. 

3 ‘‘(4) PROPERTY USED BY TAX-EXEMPT ENTI4 TY.—In the case of any qualified commercial vehicle 

5 advanced safety system the use of which is described 

6 in paragraph (3) or (4) of section 50(b) and which 

7 is not subject to a lease— 

8 ‘‘(A) the person who sold such property to 

9 the person or entity using such property shall 

10 be treated as the taxpayer that placed such 

11 property in service, but only if such person 

12 clearly discloses to such person or entity in a 

13 document the amount of any credit allowable 

14 under subsection (a) with respect to such prop15 erty (determined without regard to section 

16 38(c)), and 

17 ‘‘(B) paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection 

18 (c) shall not apply to such person with respect 

19 to such property. 

20 ‘‘(5) ELECTION NOT TO TAKE CREDIT.—No 

21 credit shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any 

22 qualified commercial vehicle advanced safety system 

23 if the taxpayer elects to not have this section apply 

24 to such system. 

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1 ‘‘(h) SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION.—No credit 

2 shall be allowed under subsection (a) unless the qualified 

3 commercial vehicle owner receives such documentation as 

4 the Secretary may require, including— 

5 ‘‘(1) at the time of purchase of the qualified ad6 vanced commercial vehicle advanced safety system— 

7 ‘‘(A) documentation that identifies— 

8 ‘‘(i) the type of each such system to 

9 be installed on the vehicle, and 

10 ‘‘(ii) the purchase date of the vehicle 

11 containing such system (or the installation 

12 date of such system in the case of installa13 tion after the date of the first retail sale 

14 of such vehicle), and 

15 ‘‘(B) the certification required under sub16 section (c)(2), and 

17 ‘‘(2) in the case of a system for which a certifi18 cation is required under subsection (c)(3), at the 

19 time of the installation of such system, the certifi20 cation required under subsection (c)(3). 

21 ‘‘(i) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply to 

22 property placed in service after December 31, 2013.’’. 

23 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

24 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of the Internal 

25 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to general business credit) 

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1 is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph 

2 (32), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (33) 

3 and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(34) the commercial vehicle advanced safety 

6 system credit determined under section 45Q(a).’’. 

7 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

8 (1) Section 1016(a) of the Internal Revenue 

9 Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

10 end of paragraph (35), by striking the period at the 

11 end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by 

12 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(37) to the extent provided in section 

14 45Q(g)(1).’’. 

15 (2) Subsection (m) of section 6501 of such 

16 Code is amended by inserting ‘‘45Q(g)(5),’’ after 

17 ‘‘45C(d)(4),’’. 

18 (3) The table of sections for subpart D of part 

19 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 

20 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec21 tion 45P the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45Q. Credit for commercial vehicle advanced safety systems.’’. 

22 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall apply to property placed in service after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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