President Obama on Friday signed into law two pieces of legislation extending alternative fuels tax credits and removing the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program credit cap for bi-fuel natural gas vehicles (NGVs).

H.R. 5771, the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, includes an amendment retroactively extending the federal 50-cent per gallon alternative fuels excise tax credits through the remainder of 2014, even though the credits had previously expired at the end of 2013.

These tax credits were made available to individuals, businesses, and other entities that use transportation fuel products such as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), and propane autogas.

The alternative fuels excise tax credits are part of many business, individual, and energy tax incentives covered in H.R. 5771, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Dec. 3 before being approved by the Senate.

Also signed into law was the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal-year 2015, which includes a provision modifying the CAFE program. The provision, intended to incentivize the production of NGVs, removes the limit in credits OEMs can earn by producing bi-fuel NGVs for compliance with the CAFE program.