MABA bills get favorable recommendation

HANOVER, Mass. — The Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Financial Services has given a favorable recommendation to several bills that the Massachusetts Auto Body Association (MABA) had filed for this legislative session. In addition, the Committee also gave a key labor rate bill drafted by the Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Massachusetts/Rhode Island (AASP-MA/RI) with assistance from the Central Mass Auto Rebuilders Association and support from MABA, a favorable recommendation as well.

MABA had filed nine separate bills on issues ranging from arbitration to shop equipment requirements, steering and labor rates, and five were either favorably reported or combined into other redrafts that were reported favorably. MABA says this is an unprecedented success for the advancement of collision repair related bills that are favored by the collision repairers and collision repair associations. A sixth bill dealt with labor rate, but at a May 2007 hearing MABA endorsed the AASP-MA/RI labor rate bill and asked the Committee to take no action on theirs.

MABA spokesman Stephen Regan credited much of the success on two main factors; the professionalism that the association showed over the years through their participation in the legislature’s Auto Body Working Group, and the united front and strong working relationship of the state’s three collision repair associations. He also credited the legislators who participated in the Working Group who spent a great deal of time listening to both sides and evaluating all the facts and following through on their commitment to their constituents to make the necessary changes to resolve the multiple problems facing the collision repair industry.

“If there is one message, or lesson, that I hope all collision repairers and their associations take from this success, it is that you must remain professional at all times, no matter how long it takes or how difficult the environment has become, when dealing with your elected officials and state officials,” says Regan. “You also need to offer legislative language as your solution and not just complain about your circumstances. Legislators are much more likely to evaluate a proposal you have presented to them and act on it, rather than listen and take information and draft their own proposal.”

Contact MABA for information at 1-800-ITS-MABA.