A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Louisiana Dealers on the Hill Takeaways from the NADA Washington Conference BY COULTER McMAHEN, PRESIDENT/CEO, LADA I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it: The best lobbyist this industry has is a dealer. A congressional staffer can skim a white paper in 30 seconds. What they remember is a dealer telling them what a bill does to their employees, their customers and their town. That’s why nine of us went to the NADA Washington Conference, Sept. 14-16, and spent two days on Capitol Hill making our case face to face. Representing Louisiana were Patton Fritze, our chairman; Ryan LeBlanc, treasurer; Mark Hebert, NADA state director; Brett Barker, NADA state PAC chairman; Keith Rutherford, ATD Isuzu line representative; John Connor Flick, our NextGen representative; Katherine Carver, director of communications and events; Claude Reynaud, general counsel; and me. We sat down with Congresswoman Julia Letlow and Congressman Cleo Fields, as well as the chiefs of staff for Speaker Mike Johnson and Congressman Clay Higgins. They were all clear on two things: They want to hear directly from you about what’s affecting your businesses. They recognize how much franchised dealers matter, not just nationally but in your hometowns and across Louisiana. The foremost topic of discussion throughout the whole trip was keeping vehicles and technology controlled by China and other foreign adversaries out of the American market. It matters to every rooftop in Louisiana. We also got a straight read on November from one of the country’s best election analysts. Let’s dive in more. THE CONNECTED VEHICLE SECURITY ACT The Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026 was introduced by Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan). In the House, the bill is carried by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan) and Congressman John Moolenaar (R-Michigan), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. You’d be hard-pressed to find anything more bipartisan moving in Washington right now. This bill would keep vehicles built or controlled by China, Russia, North Korea and Iran out of this country. It bans the import, manufacture and sale of those vehicles, along with connected software and hardware tied to those countries. It also writes into law, and expands, the connected vehicle rule the U.S. Department of Commerce finalized in 5
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