BEAUMONT, Texas
Most drivers in Texas will no longer be required to pass an annual safety exam after state lawmakers removed the rule from the Texas code.
Texas is one of 13 states that require annual inspections for cars. That will change in about 18 months now that the Texas Legislature has given House Bill 3297 final approval.
Drivers will still pay the $7.50 a year when they register their vehicles. The money will go to the Texas Mobility Fund, the General Revenue Fund and the Clean Air Account.
For drivers with new cars, either current model or previous model year that have not been previously registered in Texas or another state, there will be an initial fee of $16.75 to cover two years.
Supporters say the inspections are inconvenient for drivers, but others argue the inspections help keep the roads safe.
Auto Lube in Vidor owner Brandon Bearden says they do 30 to 40 inspections a day.
Annual reviews are an important part of your business.
“It’s going to hurt a lot, because a lot of times they come in and they do an inspection and they look at their sticker on the windshield and they say, well, I need an oil change. So a lot of those people are going to push the oil change back , or just not come in,” he said.
Vidor resident Landon Barney thinks not requiring inspections is scary.
“Cars need to be able to work properly to work, and if they don’t work properly, there will be more accidents on the road,” he said.
Lawmakers behind the bill say state vehicle inspections are a waste of time and an unnecessary burden.
Representative Cody Harris of Palestine, who authored the bill, has faith in Texans to keep their cars and trucks safe on the road without an inspection.
Bearden says most cars drive by.
About one in seven has something wrong with it.
“It’s not going to be as safe. The tires, that’s probably one of the biggest and one of the things that we see the most that aren’t as good. People don’t know that the inside of their tires is slippery because they don’t see it,” he said. Bearden said.
Credit: 12NewsNow
What did the Legislature change?
The Legislature repealed provisions of state law requiring annual vehicle inspections. However, the $7.50 fee remains intact with a new name: the Inspection Program Replacement Fee.
The 17 Texas counties that require emissions inspections will still mandate annual testing regardless of whether the bill becomes law. These include Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis and Williamson counties.
Who is affected?
All Texas drivers outside exempt counties will be affected by the legislation. According to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, there are 22 million cars registered in the state. Annual inspections are used to determine whether certain features of a car, such as tires, seat belts or brakes, are safe to drive.
A study commissioned by the Texas Legislature in 2017 shows that cars with defects, such as flat tires or faulty brakes, were three years older than the average registered vehicle, which is nine years old.
Almost a quarter of people surveyed in the study were asked by a mechanic to fix flat or defective tires during an inspection, which could prevent further accidents. Another report found that defective cars in Texas were more than three times more likely to be involved in a crash that resulted in a fatality.
Texas roads are notoriously dangerous. At least one person dies every day on a Texas highway. According to the most recent state data, 4,489 people died in auto accidents in Texas during 2021, or about 1.56 deaths for every 100,000 miles driven by drivers. This is an increase from 1.36 deaths per 100,000 in 2017.
Who influenced the outcome of the bill?
Republican Rep. Cody Harris of Palestine and Sens. Mayes Middleton of Galveston and Bob Hall of Edgewood sponsored the bill to eliminate annual vehicle inspections.
Other groups and companies, including former Texas Sen. Don Huffines’ Liberty Foundation, Continental Automotive Group, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas Conservative Coalition and Tesla, testified in favor of the bill. Huffines, whose family owns a North Texas auto dealership empire, has been a supporter of the bill.
Representatives from the Texas Sheriffs Association, Dallas Police Association, Houston Police Officers Union, Texas State Inspection Association, Toyota Motor North America and more spoke out against the bill.
What alternatives were considered?
No alternatives were considered for the bill, but there was some pushback from other lawmakers. Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Dallas Democrat, spoke against the bill in the Senate before it passed.
“It really won’t take long, and if they want to sell me a windshield wiper while I’m over there, I’m fine,” Johnson said. “I would at least vote for this bill until one of you does a study that says they’re not effective. The evidence I’ve seen says they are.”
Johnson urged his colleagues to vote against the bill, saying people’s lives are at stake.
The bill passed on a 109-32 vote in the House and a 20-11 vote in the Senate.
What’s next?
The bill was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk on Monday after lawmakers approved a compromise version of the bill on Sunday. Pending approval by the governor, the legislation will take effect on January 1, 2025.
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This is a developing story. We’ll update with more if and when we get more confirmed information.
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