Texas Vehicle Inspections One Step Closer to History

[Dan McMartin]

Originally Posted by Scottybdivin

Had my retired Legislative expert (30 years Legislative Council) check. There is a companion bill in the House HB 3995, different but similar. It is already out of committee and sent to Calendars committee. Maybe one of them will pass. Fingers Crossed.

Not sure how TX works but since they have competing bills, they might just go to conference committee, combine them and then vote on the reconciled bill in each house and be done with it.

[Wayne M]

I think it is all about the bottom ($$$) line. Just assume that every vehicle in Texas is a diesel and pays $7.50. There are approximately 22 million registered vehicles in Texas, That would be $165 million lost. However many non-diesel vehciles are $50 or more so that price could easily reach 1/2 billion dollars.

Taxes would have to go up somewhere to compensate, I think.

Just checked and the revenue from vehicle registrations in Texas is more than $4.5 Billion. The majority is deposited in the State Highway Fund to maintain roads and bridges.

[Dan McMartin]

Here's the short description of the bill:

Relating to the elimination of regular mandatory vehicle safety inspections and the imposition of replacement fees

I never really knew what that last part meant. Now I see that the imposition of replacement fees is how they are going to generate the lost revenue. The political double talk in the bill is unreadable so I don't know how they will make up the short fall but it seems that is the plan.

[Sue46]

I don't see whee they lose any revenue. The garage that does the inspection does but I doubt if the amount the state allows them to collect for an inspection covers their actual cost. I don't think there is any mention of removing registration just inspection. I heard someplace that only 15 states require inspections. All inspections do is say the vehicle is OK at that moment in time.

[Wayne M]

I'll wager that the lost revenue from inspection will be added to the registration portion.

I have not registered a car type vehicle but for my diesel pusher the fees used to be $14 dollars or so. That was given to the inspection station. Now the inspection fee at the station is $7.50 and then at registration time an additional 7.50 was applied to the registration.

For my TOAD, i registered it for 3 years the last time I registered it. It is due this year for renewal. I received a letter to make sure that I got it inspected every year, which I have done. There were no additional fees with the 3 year registration. I don't kknow if they still have that option

The "imposition of replacement fees" will occur somewhere.

[Barbaraok]

Wayne, remember that the majority of people in the state who live in big cities will still be doing the emission inspections - those are the expensive ones and since there are a lot of them done, it is a simple matter to increase the inspection fee slightly to make up for the lost revenue from low population counties.

[spuds]

Originally Posted by Barbaraok

remember that the majority of people in the state who live in big cities will still be doing the emission inspections

Yes - they are talking about doing away with the "safety" inspections, which means lights, wipers, horn, etc., but the emissions testing will not be eliminated.

Michelle

[Dan McMartin]

Originally Posted by Barbaraok

Wayne, remember that the majority of people in the state who live in big cities will still be doing the emission inspections - those are the expensive ones and since there are a lot of them done, it is a simple matter to increase the inspection fee slightly to make up for the lost revenue from low population counties.

Again, I don't speak legislativese but there is language in the bill about emissions. In retrospect, I bet it's about increasing fees for emissions.

[Wayne M]

Here is "everything" you ever wanted to know about registering n Texas

TDPS Information

[Dan McMartin]

Looks like SB 1588 was passed out of the Transportation Committee in the House. No amendments. Now it goes to the house floor and if passed, to the Governor's desk.

I am curious as to how they will handle inspections from when it is passed until when it goes into affect in March 2018. Totally unrelated but when the marijuana referendum passed here in Nevada last Nov, essentially every DA and Sheriff said they would immediately stop all low level possession and sales enforcement even though the law would go into effect until the first of the year. I wonder if Texas will to the same, just stop enforcing the stickers?

[Barbaraok]

Since there is no longer an inspection sticker, it would only be the online registration that will cause people to get the inspection done. Can't get the registration sticker without the inspection being entered in the computer, so it will likely stay the same until about February when I would assume the link from the registration database to the inspection database will be deleted.

[Wayne M]

Barbara & David,
If you register "on-line" you just need to check the box that the vehicle is out of state and they will register it and give you notice that you need to register as soon as you get back in state.

I guess if you register in-person it means you are in state.

In any case I would be very happy if inspections were not required to register as I am out of state most of the time and it is just an inconvenience of getting notices. Easy to delete or tear up though.

[Scottybdivin]

If I am reading the bill correctly, vehicles that are registered in counties where emissions testing is required, will still have to them tested. This will exclude most MH's but not most toads.

[Sue46]

If theMH is registered in a non-emission testing county why wouldn't the toad be registered in the same county.

Or, make sure you register everything in a non-emission county.