Joe Cunningham: “I rise to support H.R. 8, the Border Smog Reduction Act of 1998. Introduced by my San Diego congressional delegation…”

“I rise to support H.R. 8, the Border Smog Reduction Act of 1998. Introduced by my San Diego congressional delegation colleague, Representative Brian Bilbray, H.R. 8 is a practical and bipartisan approach to improving border air quality and strengthening our air pollution control strategies. It will give the federal government the authority it needs to help enforce state vehicle emissions requirements, without imposing new mandates or burdens on local government or the business community. In California, H.R. 8 will help to reduce high levels of smog-forming compounds from commuter vehicles driven across the border every day by people coming in to work or going to school legally in the U.S. Under existing state law, these vehicles are supposed to be in compliance with California's strict emission standards. But most presently are not, due to the current inability to enforce state law at the border. H.R. 8 will extend this enforcement ability to federal border inspectors at the points of entry, who will have the authority to ultimately turn away foreign-registered vehicles which cannot be shown to be in compliance with these emissions standards. H.R. 8 does not restrict an individual's legal access to the U.S. It is focused on gross-polluting commuter vehicles which emit a disproportionately high level of pollutants along our border region.”