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“Beginning Jan. 1, cars registered in Texas won’t need to pass a safety inspection, but owners will still pay the fee” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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Most Texas drivers will no longer be required to have their cars pass an annual safety exam after state lawmakers removed the rule from Texas code.

Texas is one of 15 states that mandate annual inspections for noncommercial cars. That will change on Jan. 1 because the Texas Legislature approved House Bill 3297, which eliminates most vehicle safety inspections, in 2023.

Supporters of the bill called the safety inspections time consuming and inconvenient. Opponents of the bill say it could set Texas drivers, and future Texans, on a dangerous path.

“The majority of our business is centered around making sure people’s vehicles are safe,” said Charissa Barnes, owner of the Official Inspection Station in San Antonio, to lawmakers earlier this year. “We need to make sure that their cars, the people joining us in Texas, are safe.”

What did the Legislature change?

The Legislature repealed provisions in state law that mandate annual vehicle inspections. However, the $7.50 fee remains intact under a new name: the inspection program replacement fee. That fee will be paid at the time the vehicle is registered with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

The 17 Texas counties that require emissions inspections will still mandate annual emissions tests regardless of the bill becoming law. They are 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 noncommercial drivers outside of the exempted counties stand to be affected by the legislation. According to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, there are 26 million registered cars in the state. Annual inspections are used to determine if certain features of a car, such as the tires, seat belts or brakes, are safe to drive with.

A study mandated by the Texas Legislature in 2017 shows that cars with defects, such as bald tires or bad brakes, were three years older than the average registered vehicle, which is nine years old.

Almost a quarter of the people surveyed in the study were asked by a mechanic to fix slick or defective tires during an inspection, potentially preventing more accidents. Another report found that defective cars in Texas were more than three times as likely to be involved in a crash that resulted in a fatality.

Texas roadways are notoriously dangerous. At least one person dies on a Texas road each day. According to the most recent state data, 4,283 people were killed in auto crashes in Texas during 2023. Based on the reported crashes in 2023, one person was killed on a Texas roadway about every two hours.

Who influenced the bill’s outcome? 

Republican Rep. Cody Harris of Palestine and Sens. Mayes Middleton of Galveston and Bob Hall of Edgewood sponsored the bill to do away with annual vehicle inspections.

“These inspections are a waste of time for Texas citizens and a money-making Ponzi scheme used by some shady dealerships to upsell consumers with unnecessary repairs,” Harris said in a statement to ABC 13 in Houston. “Texans are responsible, fiercely independent, and I trust them to keep their cars and trucks safe while on the road.”

Other groups and businesses — such as former Texas Sen. Don Huffines’ Liberty Foundation, Continental Automotive Group, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas Conservative Coalition and Tesla — were all witnesses in favor of the bill. Huffines, whose family owns a car dealership empire in North Texas, has been a vocal supporter of the bill.

Representatives with the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas, the Dallas Police Association, the Houston Police Officers’ Union, the Texas State Inspection Association, Toyota Motor North America and more spoke against the bill.

How much will it cost Texans? 

Drivers will still be paying the annual $7.50 when they register their vehicles. The money will go toward the Texas mobility fund, general revenue fund and the clean air account.

For drivers with new cars — either the current model or preceding model year that has not been previously registered in Texas or another state — there will instead be an initial fee of $16.75 to cover two years.

All commercial vehicles in all of the state’s 254 counties will still be required to pass an annual vehicle safety inspection and pay the safety inspection fee.

The Texas transportation department estimates that the state’s economy lost $51.4 billion due to car crashes in 2021.

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 on the Senate floor before it passed.

“It’s really not going to take any time, and if they want to sell me a windshield wiper while I’m there, I’m OK,” Johnson said. “I would at least vote this bill down until one of you brings out a study that says they’re not effective. The evidence I’ve seen says they are.”

Johnson urged fellow members to vote the bill down, saying people’s lives are at stake.

The bill passed on a 109-32 vote in the House chamber and a 20-11 vote in the Senate. Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law in June 2023.

What’s next? 

The legislation goes into effect Jan. 1.

Disclosure: The Texas Public Policy Foundation, Tesla and Toyota Motor North America have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Correction, June 1, 2023 at 10:39 a.m.:

An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Don Huffines owns a network of car dealerships. His brother owns and operates the dealerships.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/01/texas-car-safety-inspection-changes/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

NEW CANEY, Texas (AP) — Cleanup was underway Monday after a strong storm system spawned hail, rain, high winds and tornadoes across the southern U.S. over the weekend, killing at least four people.

As of Monday afternoon, over 30 tornadoes had been confirmed as crews worked through about 50 reports of tornado damage spanning from Texas to South Carolina, said Mark Wiley, an emergency response specialist with the National Weather Service’s Southern Region Headquarters.

The storms came over a busy holiday travel weekend, causing some treacherous road conditions along with delays or cancellations at some of the busiest U.S. airports.

The storms first hit Saturday around the Houston area, where the National Weather Service by Monday had confirmed six tornadoes. Two of the twisters were rated EF3, with peak winds of about 140 mph, including one that hit Montgomery County in the Porter and New Caney areas.

“Some of the damage was pretty substantial, some cases leveling homes, some producing quite a bit of roof damage,” said Brian Kyle, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Houston.

Around 50 homes in Montgomery County sustained major damage and 30 were destroyed, county official Jason Smith said. A couple hundred more homes sustained minor or cosmetic damage, he said.

Smith said crews, which have been working since the weekend, were continuing to pick up debris Monday.

Officials in Mississippi said two people were killed in storms there, including an 18-year-old who died after a tree fell on her home Saturday night in Natchez in Adams County. In Texas, a 48-year-old woman died in the Liverpool area south of Houston, said Madison Polston of the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office. She said the woman was found about 100 feet (30 meters) from her home.

Dozens of homes and buildings were significantly damaged in Brazoria County.

In North Carolina, a 70-year-old man was killed Sunday in Statesville, just north of Charlotte, when a tree landed on the pickup truck he was driving. Highway Patrol Trooper DJ Maffucci said “it was just a freak accident” and he believed Matthew Teeple, of Cleveland, North Carolina, was killed instantly.

Maffucci said that the storms were responsible for a number of downed trees and “quite a few wrecks.”

In the Alabama city of Athens, northwest of Huntsville, storm damaged the downtown area, said city spokeswoman Holly Hollman. Large HVAC units were hurled from the tops of building and the roof was ripped off a bookstore. A full-sized, stripped-down military helicopter was toppled from a pole where it was on display, she added.

“I stepped out on my porch and I could hear it roar,” she said of the storm.

Although somewhat uncommon for the season, weather officials say even in December can see severe weather under the right circumstances, as warm temperatures from the Gulf of Mexico combine with a cold front.

“You can still have the right ingredients that lead to these severe events even in the dead of winter in the Deep South,” said Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services’ Weather Prediction Center.

Still, it’s rare for a system to start in Texas and make its way all the way to the Atlantic Coast this time of year, Wiley said.

Meanwhile, in western Pennsylvania, high winds overnight Sunday caused power outages early Monday, most of them in Pittsburgh and other parts of Allegheny County. Wind speeds of more than 60 miles per hour (97 kph) were reported in Pennsylvania as high winds also blew across Ohio and northern West Virginia.

AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva in State College, Pennsylvania, said a strengthening low-pressure system ushered in the winds that downed trees and utility poles Sunday evening and into the night. Some 60,000 Pennsylvania utility customers were without power Monday morning.