I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2743 

To restore the economic rights of automobile dealers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 8, 2009 

Mr. MAFFEI (for himself, Mr. KRATOVIL, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. HOYER, Mr. 

MCMAHON, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. HALL of New York, Mr. 

POSEY, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. PAULSEN, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. DEFAZIO, and Mr. DAVIS of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To restore the economic rights of automobile dealers, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Automobile Dealer 

5 Economic Rights Restoration Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Automobile dealers are an asset to auto2 mobile manufacturers that make it possible to serve 

3 communities and sell automobiles nationally. 

4 (2) Forcing the closure of automobile dealers 

5 would have an especially devastating economic im6 pact in rural communities, where dealers play an in7 tegral role in the community, provide essential serv8 ices and serve as a critical economic engine. 

9 (3) The manufacturers obtain the benefits from 

10 having a national dealer network at no material cost 

11 to the manufacturers. 

12 (4) Historically, automobile dealers have had 

13 franchise agreement protections under State law. 

14 SEC. 3. RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS. 

15 (a) In order to protect assets of the Federal Govern16 ment and better assure the viability of automobile manu17 facturers in which the Federal Government has an owner18 ship interest, or to which it is a lender, an automobile 

19 manufacturer in which the Federal Government has an 

20 ownership interest, or which receives loans from the Fed21 eral Government, may not deprive an automobile dealer 

22 of its economic rights and shall honor those rights as they 

23 existed, for Chrysler LLC dealers, prior to the commence24 ment of the bankruptcy case by Chrysler LLC on April 

25 30, 2009, and for General Motors Corp. dealers, prior to 


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1 the commencement of the bankruptcy case by General Mo2 tors Corp. on June 1, 2009, including the dealer’s rights 

3 to recourse under State law. 

4 (b) In order to preserve economic rights pursuant to 

5 subsection (a), at the request of an automobile dealer, an 

6 automobile manufacturer covered under this Act shall re7 store the franchise agreement between that automobile 

8 dealer and Chrysler LLC or General Motors Corp. that 

9 was in effect prior to the commencement of their respec10 tive bankruptcy cases and take assignment of such agree11 ments. 

12 (c) Except as set forth herein, nothing in this Act 

13 is intended to make null and void: 

14 (1) the court approved transfer of substantially 

15 all the assets of Chrysler LLC to New CarCo Acqui16 sition LLC; or 

17 (2) a transfer of substantially all the assets of 

18 General Motors Corp. that could be approved by a 

19 court after the date of introduction of this Act. 

Æ 


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