Senate Transportation Committee Meets June 12 To Consider Bills Ordering Unlawful Actions Related To Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program

On June 11, the Senate Transportation Committee scheduled a June 12 meeting to consider a package of 5 bills making significant changes to the state’s Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program, including totally exempting 7 counties from the inspections, allowing service stations to continue to use existing vehicle testing equipment longer and exempting vehicles 8 years old or newer from the requirement.

The package of bills includes--

-- Senate Bill 742 (Ward-R-Westmoreland) exempting vehicles from emissions testing for 8 years after manufacturing;

-- Senate Bill 743 (Ward-R-Westmoreland) replace annual emission inspections with inspections every 2 years for vehicles more than 8 years old;

-- Senate Bill 744 (Langerholc-R-Bedford) exempt Blair, Cambria, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer, and Westmoreland Counties from the vehicle emissions testing;

-- Senate Bill 745 (Stefano-R-Fayette) replace the tailpipe test in Pittsburgh and the 2-speed idle test via a dynamometer/treadmill in the Philadelphia region with a gas cap test and a visual inspection for model year 1994-95 vehicles; and

-- Senate Bill 746 (Vogel-R-Beaver) extend the transition date for existing emissions inspection stations that are required by the Department of Transportation to obtain new emissions testing equipment from November 1, 2019 to July 1, 2021. [This bill does not direct PennDOT to do an unlawful act.] (sponsor summary of package)

The Department of Environmental Protection, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreeing, told the Senators several times it was not legally possible to withdraw from the program, if you read the entire federal law.

In written testimony at a May 10 Transportation Committee roundtable, DEP said more specifically, “The General Assembly would be ordering the agencies to perform an unlawful act under federal law.”

A report released by the Joint State Government Commission in October 2018 said the same thing.

The report, based on a special task force convened by the Commission at the direction of Senate Resolution 168 (Langerholc-R-Bedford) that included representatives of service state owners, the AAA representing vehicle owners, DEP, environmental and public health groups, concluded--

“The overwhelming consensus of the advisory committee was that revisions to the SIP [State Air Quality Implementation Plan] suggested by Senate Resolution 168 that would remove certain counties from the vehicle emissions testing program are not authorized under the CAA [federal Clean Air Act] [emphasis added].

“The driving factor in this conclusion is the fact that Congress included Pennsylvania in the Northeast Ozone Transport Region (OTR) under the CAA, and the CAA imposes expanded geographical coverage for vehicle inspection and maintenance programs in OTR states.

“Additionally, a majority of the advisory committee was also of the opinion that removing any counties from the SIP was inadvisable for adverse public health and environmental reasons [emphasis added].”

Click Here for more background.

The meeting is scheduled to be held in Room 461 of the Main Capitol starting at 10:00. Click Here to watch live.

Sen. Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) serves as Majority Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-787-6063 or send email to: kward@pasen.gov.  Sen. John Sabatina (D-Philadelphia) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-9608 or send email to: john.sabatina@pasenate.com.

Related Article:

Senate Bills Would Order DEP, PennDOT To Perform Unlawful Acts Related To State’s Vehicle Emission Inspection Program