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AMSTERDAM, NY—U.S. Representatives Paul D. Tonko (NY-20) and Antonio Delgado (NY-19) announced today that their full slate of limousine safety reforms is advancing to the House Floor as part of a major infrastructure bill moving quickly through the United States House of Representatives. 

“Even as we work to address the broad and urgent challenges we now face as a nation, we must not lose sight of the full scope of life-saving work that needs to get done,” Congressman Tonko said. “Our continued progress with these vital and commonsense limousine safety measures is a credit to families from across our state who have shown a truly selfless resolve, turning tragic personal loss and into a resounding call for life-saving reform. The advance of these measures to the House floor is just the next step. My colleagues and I will not rest until limousine safety reforms are signed and enacted into law.”

“On October 6, 2018, our upstate communities suffered a devastating loss when a limo crash killed 20 people in Schoharie. By advancing these bills through committee, we are one step closer to honoring their lives with action and taking tangible steps to improve the safety and security of limousines on the road so no other family suffers,” said Rep. Delgado, a member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. “I will continue to work alongside Rep. Tonko and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this legislation through the House and Senate as soon as possible to enact these long overdue reforms.”

Limo safety measures advancing in House infrastructure bill:

1. Take Unsafe Limos Off the Road Act, sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonko, a subcommittee chair in the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, promotes funding to support states’ efforts to impound or immobilize vehicles that fail inspection for critical safety reasons. The act will incentivize states such as New York to take strong actions to keep unsafe limos that fail inspection off the road.
2. Safe Limousines Act, also sponsored by Rep. Tonko, includes a full slate of new federal stretch limousine safety rules and standards for seatbelts, seat integrity, a federal definition for limousines and crash safety research.
3. End the Limo Loophole Act, sponsored by Rep. Antonio Delgado, a member of the House Committee on Transportation closes the “limousine loophole” by reclassifying vehicles used to carry nine or more passengers as commercial motor vehicles. Current law only classifies vehicles designed for 15 or more passengers in this way, allowing many limousines to operate under less rigorous standards. 
   

The package of federal limousine safety reforms was introduced last year on the one-year anniversary of a tragic limousine crash in Schoharie, New York that took the lives of 20 people. Reps. Tonko and Delgado worked closely with families of these victims and as well as another group of families who lost loved ones in another limousine tragedy on Long Island. They introduced their resulting package of federal limousine safety reforms in Tonko’s hometown of Amsterdam, New York with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and with the support of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21).

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