Bill to eliminate Texas car inspections heads to Gov. Greg Abbott. When would checks end?

A bill to eliminate annual vehicle safety inspections come 2025 is headed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Lawmakers approved a compromise version of the bill on Sunday that removes the yearly requirement for noncommercial vehicles. A spokesperson for Abbott did not immediately return an email seeking comment on whether the governor plans to sign the measure into law.

The proposal, as passed out of the House in early May, would have ended the safety inspections come September, but it was changed in the Senate to push back the start date to January 2025.

“Vehicle inspections are a costly and time consuming process that provide little benefit to public safety,” Rep. Mayes Middleton, a Galveston Republican who is carrying the bill in the Senate, told lawmakers this month.

Drivers in Tarrant, Collin, Dallas, Ellis and Parker County and other counties where emission inspections are currently required would still do the emission checks, were the bill made law.

Most states do not require safety inspections, according to Kelly Blue Book.

Opponents of eliminating the safety inspections have raised concerns about unsafe cars driving on Texas roads. Passenger car inspections look for problems with horns, windshield wipers, breaks, lights, tires and other car parts.

After the bill advanced from the Senate, it was sent to a committee made up of House and Senate lawmakers to negotiate differences between the two chambers’ versions.

A Senate change that would have required the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to adopt rules for notifying drivers about vehicle recalls in registration notices was taken out of the compromise version.

The bill includes a way to continue funding the Texas Mobility Fund, which helps finance construction for state highways, through a fee when drivers register or renew their cars.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.