HALTING ILLEGAL ACTIVITY

Wars TURF Grassroots Efforts on State Enforcement of Illegal Activity

It’s time to take back the automotive recycling industry from deceptive illegal

operators, state by state. BY MICHELLE KEADLE-TAYLOR

he Automotive Recyclers Association has been working for years at the federal level to make policymakers more aware of the illegal activity engulfing the professional automo- tive recycling industry. More and more, precedent in state law stands in the way of the laws or regulations that the ARA seeks to influence and improve. When multiple states have similar laws that affect a way of doing busi- ness the task gets even more difficult, especially when strong interest groups send expensive lob- byists with financial backing to Capitol Hill and statehouses.

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Through the participation of auto recycler attendees at the ARA Annual Hill Day who speak with their Members of Congress to educate them about the issues impacting the industry in their home state, some progress is being made. But that is often arduous work.

Eight years ago, in an effort to address the growing power that state laws have in establishing precedent for laws and regulations at the federal level, ARA leaders were inspired to develop an Association event focused solely on the leg- islative issues impacting the industry at the state level. The first ARA State Legislative Summit brought together auto- motive recyclers from across the country to discuss how common issues can be responded to from the automotive recycler’s perspective before they become state law and fur- ther down the road, federal law This tradition continues

44 Automotive Recycling | January-February 2015

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