Every year, federal and state laws and regulations change, and your VADA Team is committed to ensuring you have the latest information to run a compliant dealership. Our annual Legal and Legislative Update, hosted virtually late last month, provided all members a summary of new legal requirements.
Virginia General Assembly
Several major transportation bills were considered in the 2020 General Assembly Regular Session.
As you probably recall, the primary issue for VADA was motor vehicle safety expectations. After much discussion, negotiation, and lobbying, the General Assembly opted to keep annual inspections in place. Other key transportation legislation passed included a reduction in annual registration fees, a new highway use fee, and specialty dealer tags.
Each topic covered is important to the franchised new car and truck dealers of Virginia, but the employment law changes — including several effective July 1, 2020 — made this year’s update especially critical for you and your business. Those laws touch on wage theft, reporting employee pay hours, increased minimum wage, and much more. The laws are detailed, with more information available in presentation materials.
In recent months, VADA has been proactively updating members on Gov. Northam’s executive orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic and what different phases under the “Forward Virginia” reopening plan mean for your business. The webinar covered those phase requirements based on information available at the time. The latest information can always be found at vada.com/coronavirus.
Additional Updates
Equally important are requirements issued by federal agencies, with fair advertising being a “hot button” topic.
For example, as you know, the Federal Trade Commission has concentrated and expanded its authority on car advertising under the Dodd-Frank Act, aiming to halt bait-and-switch tactics as part of its consumer protection goal. The Motor Vehicle Dealer Board also is now imposing civil penalties for dealers for ad violations in social media posts by their employees. Our presentation goes into further detail, including offering social media dos and don’ts. Keep in mind, federal and state advertising laws and regulations apply, no matter the form or location of the advertisement, regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic.