Texas May Be the Next State to Eliminate Annual Vehicle Inspections

The Lone Star State may be doing away with annual state vehicle inspections soon. On Thursday, a 27-4 vote in the Texas Senate approved a bill that would eliminate mandatory inspections for passenger vehicles. Although Senate Bill 1588 doesn’t change anything for commercial trucks, they’ll still be required to undergo a yearly safety inspection, and automobiles residing in seventeen counties will also have to pass emission tests for local air-quality laws.

For the rest of the state, it would be open season. “This is a tax cut that Texans will feel,” claimed Senator Don Huffines, a Dallas-based Republican who approved the bill. “It will save Texans $130 million they’re now having to pay for a procedure that has proven to have no discernible safety benefit to drivers.”

The change follows a trend in the United States to rollback yearly inspections. While most states still require some sort of periodic emissions testing, just over a dozen mandate scheduled safety assessments. Mississippi passed a similar bill in 2015 and New Jersey abolished it’s safety inspections in 2010. Like Texas, the majority of supporters agreed that it was not in their state’s financial interests now that automobiles were becoming safer and more reliable.

According to the Houston Chronicle there were, however, a handful of senators that were not in agreement. “If this bill passes, I’m going to have trouble sleeping knowing that there will be thousands of dangerous vehicles on the road,” Democratic Senator Eddie Lucio said during the lengthy debate preceding the vote.

Senator Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, also opposed the bill. “What happens if people can’t maintain their cars at the level they should?” she asked. “I don’t think that’s good for everyday Texans … because you’re setting this up where even more people can get tickets.”

Fines for not having an inspection sticker displayed, or having one out of date, range between $100 and $150 in the state of Texas. If the House approves the bill, annual savings to drivers should average roughly seven dollars.

Even though Texas imposed its own statewide policy in 1951, the Department of Transportation created a national vehicle inspection program after Congress passed the Highway Safety Act in 1966. When Congress began permitting states to abandon their inspection programs in 1976, many did. The majority that have done so in the last decade have cited single digit savings to drivers and minor losses in revenue. Although, you can’t really place an all-inclusive price on the time and energy it takes to get a vehicle certified.

As for concerns over public safety, Huffines said they were unfounded. “I look at this as an unnecessary procedure that should be eliminated,” said Huffines, adding that the repealing of inspection programs in other states haven’t seen any problems.