HARRISBURG (TNS) — State lawmakers are looking to take a more cautious approach to ridding Pennsylvanians from having to shell out about $40 once a year to have an emissions inspection performed on their vehicle regardless of how old it was.
The House Transportation Committee on Monday amended a Senate-passed emissions inspection exemption bill to call for the state Department of Environmental Protection to study federal regulations to see what they would allow the state to do as far as exempting gasoline-powered passenger cars, vans, and light-duty trucks up to 8 years old from having to undergo emissions testing.
The study would have to be completed within 180 days of the proposed law’s enactment. Then the General Assembly would have to pass a separate bill to implement any changes to the emissions inspection mandate in place in 25 counties, including many of the southcentral Pennsylvania counties.
A study found that less than 2 percent of vehicles that are 8 years old or newer failed their emissions test. This prompted Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County, to offer a bill to give a blanket exemption from the emissions inspection requirement to gas-powered passenger vehicles under 9 years old provided this change receives the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s blessing.
That blessing from the EPA is crucial to avoid putting $420 million a year in federal highway aid in jeopardy.
The House committee, after negotiating with their colleagues in the Senate, agreed it would be better to study what the EPA would allow first before passing legislation to implement changes to the emissions testing program, said House Transportation Committee Chairman Tim Hennessey, R-Montgomery County.
He credited Ward with bringing this issue of concern to Pennsylvania motorists to the General Assembly’s attention.
“We’re trying to make it a much more realistic approach to the emissions testing program and save our taxpayers money that seems to be needlessly spent in the early years of owning a new car,” he said.
The state established the emissions inspection program in 2003 in as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups for not meeting federal clean air standards. But Ward said as newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles came on the roads, the annual testing requirement appears to have become outdated.
Critics, however, say that the emissions inspections not only detect malfunctioning systems but serve as a deterrent against tampering with vehicle emission control systems.
