Lemon Law Update: Time to Lend a Hand

It’s time to make some noise and get Lemon Law protection from faulty emergency vehicles!

We’re getting very close to language that can go to the Senate floor, but we’re also getting very close to the end of the legislative session. We need you to get involved, or our attempts to gain protection for our emergency vehicles will die in committee.

I met again today with Senate staff and representatives of General Motors and Honda. While our opponents are being reasonable, they are still looking for ways to reshape the law to their advantage.  Results of the meeting include:

• A senate staffer will revist how we define the various companies that manufacture emergency vehicles. The definition is important to GM, who refuses to acknowledge that companies like Horton and E-One are manufacturers. I have no idea what else you’d call them, but I suspect we’re going to have three categories of organizations responsible for vehicles: manufacturers, i.e. GM, Ford, etc; co-manufacturers, i.e. companies that manufacture a major component and add it to the chassis, i.e. Horton, Braun, Pierce; and upfitters, i.e. the local dealer or converter who takes a completed chassis and modifies it to become an emergency vehicle.
• If the chassis manufacturer and other manufacturer can’t agree on who’s responsible for resolving the deficiency (legalese for problem), it’ll go to an already-existing arbitration process in the office of administrative law.
• Chassis manufacturers would not be held financially responsible for more than the value of their chassis.
• If an emergency vehicle is out of service for more than 20 days for the same issue, the Lemon Law would kick in. GM had wanted to move it to 45 days, similar to a motor home.

Let me say GM and Honda and everyone involved is working constructively.  But everyone is also trying to protect their own interests.

You have to understand that we’re at a critical juncture and we need support from emergency vehicle operators…NOW.

Everybody and their brother is trying to push through last-minute legislation. When the legislature goes  home later this month, it’s all over. We start from scratch in January and who knows what forces will come out to try to stop this bill: emergency vehicle dealers and manufacturers, other motor vehicle associations and manufacturers….it won’t be pretty.

So now’s the time that you need to start talking this up with your colleagues. If you’re a member of an emergency services group, please make sure that group is aware of these bills and is talking about them. You can start to let your legislators know this bill is coming and you want to see action.

Elsewhere on this blog are directions for finding out who your legislator is and writing to them. It’s very easy.

And if you’re in one of these towns, please pay special attention:

 Allendale, Allentown, Alpine, Bordentown, Bordentown City, Chesterfield, Clark, Clifton, Closter, Creskill, Demarest, Dumont, East Orange, Elizabeth, Emerson, Fanwood, Farmingdale, Fieldsboro,  Glen Ridge, Green Brook, Harrington Park, Haworth, Hillsdale, Hohokus, Howell, Jackson, Kenilworth, Lakewood, Linden, Middlesex, Montclair, Montvale, New Hanover, New Milford, North Plainfield, Northvale, Norwood, Old Tappan, Oradell, Park Ridge, Plainfield, Plumsted, Rahway, Ramsey, Robbinsville, Roosevelt, River Edge, Rivervale, Rockleigh, Roselle, Saddle River, Scotch Plains, Union Township, Upper Freehold, Upper Saddle River, Waldwick, Washington (Bergen), Westwood, Winfield, Woodcliff Lake and Woodland Park (West Paterson)

Your state senator is on the Senate Commerce Committee. You need to write him or her and let him or her know that this bill is important to you, that you are an emergency provider and that you vote (you are registered to vote, aren’t you?) and that you want him or her to vote this bill out of committee with a recommendation that it be passed.  It’s as simple as a quick email or a quick phone call.

If we don’t do these things, if we don’t get involved, the bill won’t get out of committee. It doesn’t matter how important it is or how noble our cause.  Legislators respond to squeaky wheels. It’s time to get really squeaky.

If you’re not sure how to find out who your legislator is, send me a note (just hit the comment section) and I’ll get the information back to you.

If there’s one thing firefighters, EMTs, medics and cops rarely are, it’s quiet. Don’t change now: Let’s make some noise.