In a unanimous vote, the Ohio Senate Transportation Committee approved legislation (S.B. 161) that originally required headlights on motor vehicles to display a “white light” without defining the term. A SEMA Action Network (SAN) amendment that was included in the bill now conforms the legislation to U.S. Department of Transportation standards regarding headlamp color, which all headlamps destined for on-road use must comply. The bill now moves to the Senate floor for a vote by all members.
We Urge You to Contact Members of the Ohio Senate (Contact Info Below) to Support the Amended S.B. 161
- All headlamps are required to comply with the color requirements contained in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. It is illegal for a state to enact a law that would conflict with a federal standard.
- Under the Federal standards, it is possible to design a headlamp that can be perceived as having a blue tint but which nevertheless remains within the federal boundaries that define "white."
- The original S.B. 161 seemed to be targeting illegal high-intensity discharge (HID) conversion kits, which are already illegal under Federal law. However, the original bill could have even banned factory-installed HID headlamps which emit a blue hue.
DON’T DELAY! Please contact members of the Ohio Senate by phone or e-mail to request their support for the amended version of S.B. 161
Please e-mail a copy of your letter to Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org. Also, please forward this Alert to your fellow car enthusiasts. Urge them to join the SAN and help defend the hobby! Thank you for your assistance.
Ohio Senate
To e-mail all Senate members, copy and paste the email address block below:
hite@ohiosenate.gov; gardner@ohiosenate.gov; bacon@ohiosenate.gov; coley@ohiosenate.gov; beagle@ohiosenate.gov; lehner@ohiosenate.gov; jones@ohiosenate.gov; seitz@ohiosenate.gov; Kearney@ohiosenate.gov; widener@ohiosenate.gov; brown@ohiosenate.gov; faber@ohiosenate.gov; manning@ohiosenate.gov; uecker@ohiosenate.gov; Tavares@ohiosenate.gov; hughes@ohiosenate.gov; Peterson@ohiosenate.gov; eklund@ohiosenate.gov; Jordan@ohiosenate.gov; balderson@ohiosenate.gov; smith@ohiosenate.gov; obhof@ohiosenate.gov; skindell@ohiosenate.gov; patton@ohiosenate.gov; turner@ohiosenate.gov; burke@ohiosenate.gov; larose@ohiosenate.gov; sawyer@ohiosenate.gov; oelslager@ohiosenate.gov; gentile@ohiosenate.gov; schaffer@ohiosenate.gov; cafaro@ohiosenate.gov; schiavoni@ohiosenate.gov