DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — Iowans hoping to buy a new electric vehicle in the state from manufacturers like Rivian, Tesla, or Lucid may be watching the calendar. State law does not allow those manufacturers to sell directly to consumers in Iowa.
A proposal would change that, but it has not yet received the legislative support to give it the chance to become law this session.
Current law requires that dealers that are licensed by the Iowa Department of Transportation have to be contracted with a vehicle manufacturer to sell vehicles in the state.
Electric vehicle manufacturers want lawmakers to change the law to grant them an exemption, so that they could sell to consumers regardless of whether they have a traditional vehicle dealer lot in the state.
Automobile dealers in the state say that would be unfair since these electric vehicle manufacturers wouldn’t have to abide by the same operating measures that they do.
The Senate Commerce Subcommittee passed the legislation, 2-1, on Tuesday. The Senate Commerce Committee chose not to bring it up during its meeting the following day.
Next Friday, February 20th, is the legislature’s self-imposed deadline for most bills to receive approval from a committee to have a chance to become law during this legislative session.
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