Sec. 382.202. VEHICLE EMISSIONS INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE PROGRAM

(a) The commission by resolution may request the Public Safety Commission to establish a vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program under Subchapter F, Chapter 548, Transportation Code, in accordance with this section and rules adopted under this section. The commission by rule may establish, implement, and administer a program requiring emissions-related inspections of motor vehicles to be performed at inspection facilities consistent with the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Section 7401 et seq.) and its subsequent amendments.

(b) The commission by rule may require emissions-related inspection and maintenance of land vehicles, including testing exhaust emissions, examining emission control devices and systems, verifying compliance with applicable standards, and other requirements as provided by federal law or regulation.

(c) If the program is established under this section, the commission:

(1) shall adopt vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance requirements for certain areas as required by federal law or regulation; and

(2) shall adopt vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance requirements for counties not subject to a specific federal requirement in response to a formal request by resolutions adopted by the county and the most populous municipality within the county according to the most recent federal decennial census.

(d) On adoption of a resolution by the commission and after proper notice, the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas shall implement a system that requires, as a condition of obtaining a safety inspection certificate issued under Subchapter C, Chapter 548, Transportation Code, in a county that is included in a vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program under Subchapter F of that chapter, that the vehicle, unless the vehicle is not covered by the system, be annually or biennially inspected under the vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program as required by the state's air quality state implementation plan. The Department of Public Safety shall implement such a system when it is required by any provision of federal or state law, including any provision of the state's air quality state implementation plan.

(e) The commission may assess fees for vehicle emissions-related inspections performed at inspection or reinspection facilities authorized and licensed by the commission in amounts reasonably necessary to recover the costs of developing, administering, evaluating, and enforcing the vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance program. If the program relies on privately operated or contractor-operated inspection or reinspection stations, an appropriate portion of the fee as determined by commission rule may be retained by the station owner, contractor, or operator to recover the cost of performing the inspections and provide for a reasonable margin of profit. Any portion of the fee collected by the commission is a Clean Air Act fee under Section 382.0622.

(f) The commission:

(1) shall, no less frequently than biennially, review the fee established under Subsection (e); and

(2) may use part of the fee collected under Subsection (e) to provide incentives, including financial incentives, for participation in the testing network to ensure availability of an adequate number of testing stations.

(g) The commission shall:

(1) use part of the fee collected under Subsection (e) to fund low-income vehicle repair assistance, retrofit, and accelerated vehicle retirement programs created under Section 382.209; and

(2) to the extent practicable, distribute available funding created under Subsection (e) to participating counties in reasonable proportion to the amount of fees collected under Subsection (e) in those counties or in the regions in which those counties are located.

(h) Regardless of whether different tests are used for different vehicles as determined under Section 382.205, the commission may:

(1) set fees assessed under Subsection (e) at the same rate for each vehicle in a county or region; and

(2) set different fees for different counties or regions.

(i) The commission shall examine the efficacy of annually inspecting diesel vehicles for compliance with applicable federal emission standards, compliance with an opacity or other emissions-related standard established by commission rule, or both and shall implement that inspection program if the commission determines the program would minimize emissions. For purposes of this subsection, a diesel engine not used in a vehicle registered for use on public highways is not a diesel vehicle.

(j) The commission may not establish, before January 1, 2004, vehicle fuel content standards to provide for vehicle fuel content for clean motor vehicle fuels for any area of the state that are more stringent or restrictive than those standards promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency applicable to that area except as provided in Subsection (o) unless the fuel is specifically authorized by the legislature.

(k) The commission by rule may establish classes of vehicles that are exempt from vehicle emissions inspections and by rule may establish procedures to allow and review petitions for the exemption of individual vehicles, according to criteria established by commission rule. Rules adopted by the commission under this subsection must be consistent with federal law. The commission by rule may establish fees to recover the costs of administering this subsection. Fees collected under this subsection shall be deposited to the credit of the clean air account, an account in the general revenue fund, and may be used only for the purposes of this section.

(l) Except as provided by this subsection, a person who sells or transfers ownership of a motor vehicle for which a vehicle emissions inspection certificate has been issued is not liable for the cost of emission control system repairs that are required for the vehicle subsequently to receive an emissions inspection certificate. This subsection does not apply to repairs that are required because emission control equipment or devices on the vehicle were removed or tampered with before the sale or transfer of the vehicle.

(m) The commission may conduct audits to determine compliance with this section.

(n) The commission may suspend the emissions inspection program as it applies to pre-1996 vehicles in an affected county if:

(1) the department certifies that the number of pre-1996 vehicles in the county subject to the program is 20 percent or less of the number of those vehicles that were in the county on September 1, 2001; and

(2) an alternative testing methodology that meets or exceeds United States Environmental Protection Agency requirements is available.

(o) The commission may not require the distribution of Texas low-emission diesel as described in revisions to the State Implementation Plan for the control of ozone air pollution prior to February 1, 2005.

(p) The commission may consider, as an alternative method of compliance with Subsection (o), fuels to achieve equivalent emissions reductions.

(q) Repealed by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 262, Sec. 1.10(2), eff. June 8, 2007.

(r) Repealed by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 262, Sec. 1.10(2), eff. June 8, 2007.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 3, Sec. 2.25, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 547, Sec. 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1993; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 1, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 31, 1995; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 34, Sec. 1, 9(1), (3), eff. May 1, 1995; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 11.157, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 30.207, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 333, Sec. 73, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1069, Sec. 1, eff. June 19, 1997. Renumbered from Health & Safety Code Sec. 382.037 and amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1075, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1276, Sec. 10.008(a), eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 958 , Sec. 2, eff. June 18, 2005. Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 262 , Sec. 1.10(2), eff. June 8, 2007.