HBA-EDN C.S.H.B. 2134 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS
Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2134
By: Chisum
Environmental Regulation
4/24/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)
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. C.S.H.B.
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, the Texas Department of Transportation, and the
Public Safety Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 382.209, Health and Safety
Code) of this bill.
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 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. The bill
authorizes an inspection station owner, contractor, or operator to charge
an additional amount of not more than $10 for each vehicle for a combined
safety inspection and emissions test for each vehicle in an affected county
or a participating county if the hourly labor rate warrants an additional
charge. 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 (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. 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 or to a motor
vehicle registered in a rural county in which fewer than 70,000 motor
vehicles are registered, regardless of whether the county would otherwise
be 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 (Sec. 382.204).
The bill authorizes TNRCC and DPS, by joint rule, to adopt procedures to
ensure that a stable private market exists 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).
C.S.H.B. 2134 requires TNRCC, the Texas Department of Transportation
(TxDOT), 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, the commission 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
provides that a motor vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program
may include reregistration-based 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
On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
C.S.H.B. 2134 modifies the original by including definitions for retrofit
and retrofit equipment and adding retrofit to the low-income vehicle repair
assistance, and accelerated vehicle retirement program (Secs. 382.201 and
382.209, Health and Safety Code). The substitute authorizes an inspection
station owner, contractor, or operator to charge an additional amount of
not more than $10 for each vehicle for a combined safety inspection and
emissions test and sets forth provisions regarding such a charge. The
substitute also 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, Health and Safety Code).
The substitute provides that the inspection and maintenance program does
not apply to a motor vehicle registered in a rural county in which fewer
than 70,000 motor vehicles are registered, regardless of whether the county
would otherwise be subject to a motor vehicle emissions inspection program
(Sec. 382.203, Health and Safety Code). The substitute authorizes the
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) and the Department
of Public Safety, by joint rule, to adopt procedures to ensure that a
stable private market exists for providing emissions testing to the public
in all areas of an affected county.
The substitute also authorizes TNRCC to contract with one or more private
entities to provide training and related services to inspection stations
under the vehicle emissions testing program (Sec. 382.204, Health and
Safety Code). The substitute prohibits a county assessor-collector, rather
than a county clerk, from issuing a title receipt without proof that a
vehicle has passed an emissions test (Sec. 501.0276, Transportation Code).
The substitute sets forth that provisions regarding an emissions test on
resale apply only to a vehicle which has been the subject of a retail sale
(Sec. 548.3011, Transportation Code).