At an April Air Resources Board (ARB) meeting, several amendments were made to the Truck and Bus regulation that would allow some flexibility to vehicle owners. These amendments will take effect when the regulation is finalized later this year. The board meeting adopted the changes from a November 2013 advisory that included:

–  Expansion of existing ag truck extension for vehicles that operate less than 15,000 miles per   year after Jan. 1, 2017 and 10,000 miles per year after Jan. 1, 2020; final compliance date of 2023.
–  An expansion of the low use mileage exemptions from 1,000 miles to 5,000 miles per year and a removal of the hourly limit for trucks that remain stationary.
–  An expansion of NOx exempt areas that includes a new compliance schedule for trucks in these areas to be phased in from Jan. 1, 2015- Jan 1, 2020.
–  A deferred compliance date the for the second truck in small fleets; first truck still must meet the Jan. 1, 2014 deadline but the second truck deadline will be moved to Jan. 1, 2017, and third truck to Jan. 1, 2018.
–  A delay in PM filter requirements until January 1, 2017 for owners of up to three trucks who cannot afford the changes or cannot get financing (rules still being finalized)
If a PM filter is recalled and cannot be repaired by the manufacturer, the vehicle may operate up to five years from the date of the recall.

In addition to these changes, other changes were made that will affect compliance dates in later years. Furthermore, credit extensions are available to those fleet owners who made good faith efforts to comply and adopt changes early and now cannot take advantage of the changes now authorized by the ARB.

CCGGA continues to track changes and will continue to fight for more substantive changes to the regulation to help members!