WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Resolution 259 (the Michael Jon Newkirk Transportation Safety Enhancement Act of 2009), a bill to establish state safety inspection programs and national standards for state safety inspections of motor vehicles, has been introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, in the first week of the 111th Congress. The bill was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
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“From 1966 to 1975 there were 31 safety inspection programs in U.S. states and the District of Columbia,” says Bob Redding, Washington D.C. representative of the Automotive Service Association (ASA). “When Congress passed the Highway Safety Act of 1976 it eliminated the authority of the U.S. Department of Transportation to mandate state inspection programs. Immediately, 10 states repealed their programs and we went from 31 to 21 programs overnight. Between 1976 and today we lost two more and we have 19 now. Two programs, in Missouri and North Carolina, are under attack every year by their legislators.”
Redding says ASA supports federal legislation mandating periodic motor vehicle safety inspection since so many states have no vehicle safety inspection program as well as inconsistent state standards for safety inspection programs in states that do have inspections. Redding also feels that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) needs to do more.
“Missouri’s program is top-of-the-line,” says Redding. “They not only test but they evaluate the numbers and compare them with states that don’t have programs. Those are things that NHTSA should be doing. They should at least do a study to be able to show the value of these programs because when they’re attacked, the only information out there is from the private sector and not from the government. You need the weight of a federal study.”
To view the text of H.R. 259, visit ASA’s legislative Web site at www.TakingTheHill.com.
