H.R. 350 would amend the Clean Air Act (CAA) to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating emissions from motor vehicles that are modified solely for motorsports competition. Specifically, H.R. 350 would amend the CAA’s definition of a motor vehicle to exclude vehicles that are modified solely for competition, and it would make the manufacture, sale, installation, and use of “defeat devices” that bypass emissions controls legal only for competitive motorsports. CBO estimates that the agency would spend about $500,000 over the 2018-2022 period to revise regulations; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
Because the bill would shift the legal focus of enforcement cases to how a motor vehicle is ultimately used, it would significantly increase the burden on EPA to prove that manufacturers and sellers are complicit in the use of defeat devices for purposes other than competition. As a result, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 350 would reduce penalties (which are recorded as revenues) by $18 million over the 2018-2027 period.
Because enacting H.R. 350 would affect revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 350 would not affect direct spending and would not increase on-budget deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive
10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 350 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
