ATD Chairman Jorgensen Urges Involvement in Regulatory Process
Eric Jorgensen, entering his second year as ATD chairman, said he is pleased the industry’s outlook has improved so drastically since he took the position 12 months ago.
nada.orgJorgensen, CEO of JX Enterprises in Hartland, Wisconsin, said dealers sold more than 400,000 new heavy- and medium-duty trucks in 2014, with additional gains seen in the used market and parts and service departments.
However, facing potentially “poorly planned and executed regulations,” he told conference attendees here Jan. 22 their involvement in regulatory process was needed.
TRUCK OF THE YEAR: Kenworth T880
DEALER OF THE YEAR: McCandless Truck Center of Colorado
“With all the rulemaking coming out of Washington, D.C., our message is simple: the rules affecting our business should be technologically feasible and economically practical,” Jorgensen said. “Eventually every policy decision, regulation or vote — whether related to taxes, highway funding, the environment or road safety — all leads back to Main Street where our businesses are.”
Jorgensen said ATD has worked to gain additional support in opposition to an increase in the 12% heavy-duty truck excise tax.
“Any increase in the excise tax would discourage the sale of the cleanest and most fuel-efficient trucks out there,” he said.
He also said ATD will continue to work for legislation to increase the eligibility of expensing business equipment to $500,000, and extending the 50% bonus depreciation deduction for new business equipment.
In December, Congress approved the measure for 2014, but it expired at the end of the year.
Among this year’s most anticipated federal proposals will be the next greenhouse-gas regulation, which is expected to be issued in March.
Jorgensen said he had hosted Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation officials last year at a dealership in March to educate them about trucking.
He said the officials acknowledged they did not know much about truck dealerships, and assumed “it was like a car dealership.”
Using that event as an example, Jorgensen urged dealers to help educate local officials and the public about the importance the entire trucking industry plays in the economy as well as the local boost their dealerships provide communities.
Additionally, he stressed the need to help them understand just how complex running a truck dealership is, as well as the vital role they play as a middle partner linking original equipment manufacturers’ products with the nation’s trucking fleets.
