HBA-EDN H.B. 2134 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS
Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2134
By: Chisum
Environmental Regulation
7/18/2001
Enrolled
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Federal law requires certain air quality standards and imposes strict
deadlines and penalties for noncompliance. The Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission recently adopted new regulations requiring more
than 90% reductions in auto emissions to comply with federal law. House
Bill 2134 provides the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and
the Texas Department of Public Safety with expanded authority and
flexibility relating to vehicle emissions testing.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Department of Public Safety in
SECTION 1 (Section 382.203, Health and Safety Code); to the Texas Natural
Resource Conservation Commission in SECTION 1 (Secs. 382.210 and 382.212,
Health and Safety Code); to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission and the Department of Public Safety in SECTION 1 (Section
382.205, Health and Safety Code); and to the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission and the Public Safety Commission in SECTION 1
(Section 382.209, Health and Safety Code) of this bill.
ANALYSIS
House Bill 2134 amends the Health and Safety and Transportation codes
relating to the regulation of motor vehicle emissions and provides for
certain penalties.
The bill amends the Health and Safety Code to require, rather than
authorize, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) to
adopt vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance requirements for
counties not subject to a specific federal requirement and authorizes a
contractor to retain an appropriate portion of the fee if the program
relies on privately owned or contract-operated inspection or reinspection
stations (Sec. 382.202). The bill requires TNRCC, no less frequently than
biennially, to review the fees assessed for vehicle emissions-related
inspections and authorizes TNRCC to use part of such fees to provide
incentives, including financial incentives, for participation in the
testing network to ensure availability of an adequate number of testing
stations. The bill requires TNRCC to use part of the fees collected for
vehicle emissions-related inspections to fund low-income vehicle repair
assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement programs and to
distribute available funding to participating counties in reasonable
proportion to the amount of fees collected in those counties or regions.
TNRCC is authorized to set fees at the same rate for each vehicle in a
county and to set different fees for different counties or regions. TNRCC
is authorized to suspend the emissions inspection program as it applies to
pre-1996 vehicles in an affected county if the department certifies that
the number of pre-1996 vehicles in the county subject to the program is 20
percent or less of the number of those vehicles that were in the county on
September 1, 2001, and an alternative testing methodology that meets or
exceeds federal EPA requirements is available (Sec. 382.202). The bill
provides that the inspection and maintenance program applies to any
gasoline-powered vehicle that is subject to test-on-resale requirements.
The bill replaces references to "Dallas, Tarrant, El Paso, or Harris
County" with "an affected county." The Department of Public Safety (DPS)
is authorized, by rule, to waive program requirements for certain vehicles
and vehicle owners. The program does not apply to a vehicle that is
registered but not operated primarily in a county or group of counties
subject to a motor vehicle emissions inspection program (Sec. 382.203).
The bill requires TNRCC and DPS to jointly develop a program component for
enforcing vehicle emissions testing and standards by use of remote or
automatic emissions detection and analysis equipment and sets forth
provisions relating to inspection equipment and procedures. The bill
authorizes TNRCC, in consultation with DPS, to contract with private
entities to provide testing equipment, training, and related services to
inspection stations in exchange for part of the testing fee. The bill
requires TNRCC at least once during each year to review each such contract
and to subsequently prepare a report summarizing the review and to send a
copy of the report to the speaker of the house of representatives, the
lieutenant governor, and the governor (Secs. 382.204 and 382.205). The
bill authorizes TNRCC and DPS, by joint rule, to adopt procedures to
encourage a stable private market for providing emissions testing to the
public in all areas of an affected county. Such rules and procedures must
ensure that approved repair facilities participating in a low-income
vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement
program have access to adequate testing equipment (Sec. 382.205).
H.B. 2134 requires TNRCC and the Public Safety Commission, by joint rule,
to establish and authorize the commissioners court of a participating
county to implement a low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and
accelerated vehicle retirement program. The bill requires TNRCC to provide
funding for vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle
retirement programs with available funds collected from vehicle-related
emissions inspections and requires TNRCC, by rule, to adopt guidelines to
assist a participating county in such a program (Secs. 382.209 and
382.210). The bill requires TNRCC, by rule, to authorize the assignment,
transfer, use, or other disposition of an emissions reduction credit (Sec.
382.212). The bill authorizes TNRCC, TxDOT, and the Public Safety
Commission to develop incentives for voluntary participation in a vehicle
emissions inspection and maintenance program (Sec. 382.216). The bill sets
forth provisions regarding the administration and operation of such
programs and provides that a person commits a third degree felony who sells
a vehicle with intent to defraud under an accelerated vehicle retirement
program (Secs. 382.209-382.216).
The bill amends the Transportation Code to prohibit a county
assessor-collector from issuing a title receipt, TxDOT from issuing a
certificate of title, and a county assessor-collector from registering a
motor vehicle unless proof that the vehicle has passed a vehicle emissions
test is provided, as well as to set forth certain exemptions from these
prohibitions (Secs. 501.0276, 502.1535, 548.3011, and 548.3012). The bill
provides that a person commits a misdemeanor offense if the person
operates, or as an owner knowingly permits another person to operate a
vehicle that emits visible smoke that meets certain criteria, except when
travel conditions require the downshifting or use of lower gears to
maintain reasonable momentum (Sec. 547.605). The bill requires an advisory
committee consisting of members appointed by TNRCC and the Public Safety
Commission to advise TxDOT on rules relating to the operation of a motor
vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program and to make
recommendations to TxDOT relating to the content of rules involving the
operation of the program and sets forth provisions regarding the
appointment, terms, compensation, and conduct of committee members (Section
548.006 and SECTION 12). The bill provides that a motor vehicle emissions
inspection and maintenance program may include reregistrationbased
enforcement (Sec. 548.301).
The bill modifies provisions relating to excessive motor vehicle emissions
and sets forth provisions relating to administrative penalties for
violations of motor vehicle emissions standards (Secs. 548.306 and
548.3065).
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2001.