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Procurement disclosure bill on tire ingredients fails after industry warns of cost, trade-secret risks
Summary
A bill asking tire suppliers to disclose whether tires use indirect-process zinc oxide failed in committee after Hancock Tire warned it could force disclosure of trade secrets, raise prices, and reduce competition.
Representative Littleton presented a procurement "right-to-know" bill that would require tire manufacturers or suppliers responding to state solicitations to designate whether tires are produced with indirect-process zinc oxide or a comparable manufacturing process.
Jason Hale of Hancock Tire North America testified that the company has invested billions in Tennessee operations and employs about 1,200 people. He said the industry was not consulted and that the bill raises several concerns: disclosure burdens on procurement forms, potential public disclosure of proprietary tire "recipes," the risk of steering purchases and reducing competition, and higher costs for taxpayers. "On the face of the bill, we don't know what problem it's trying to solve," he said.
Committee members asked whether the procurement office could already require ingredient information and whether the bill would limit competition. The sponsor characterized the measure as a disclosure bill that adds two checkboxes to existing procurement forms. The bill failed on a tie vote (3-3).
