Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, Senate Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1001 by Taylor, Larry (Relating to vehicle safety inspections, including vehicles exempt from those inspections.), Conference Committee Report
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Transportation Code to exempt from required safety inspections certain vehicles with a gross weight of 4,500 pounds to 7,500 pounds. The bill would require a fee of $7.50 for each such vehicle exempted, and would dedicate this new fee in the following manner:
1) $3.50 fee is dedicated to the Texas Mobility Fund; 2) $2.0 is dedicated to the Clean Air Account. Texas Emissions Reduction Plan ($2 x 138,623); 3) $2.0 is dedicated to the General Revenue Fund.
It is assumed this new fee would eliminate any revenue loss resulting from the bill's exemption of certain vehicles with a gross weight of 4,500 pounds to 7,500 pounds from safety inspections.
The bill would require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to include notification in registration renewal notices for certain trailer vehicles whether the trailer vehicle is subject to inspection.
The bill would also authorize the acceptance by the state of a vehicle's certificate of inspection issued by an inspector qualified under Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 396, who is also an employee or authorized agent of the owner of a commercial vehicle fleet, provided the vehicle is part of the owner's fleet, and is registered or in the process of being registered in the state. The Comptroller has indicated that because this provision would only expand the list of individuals DPS could authorize to perform inspections, and would not exempt those vehicles from state registration fees, the provision would have no fiscal impact on the state.
It is assumed any costs associated with implementing the bill could be absorbed within current resources.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 405 Department of Public Safety, 601 Department of Transportation, 608 Department of Motor Vehicles