In the near future, we plan to introduce legislation eliminating outdated emissions testing requirements that are only applicable to certain-sized vehicles in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions.

Many vehicle owners assume, and rightfully so, that emissions testing requirements are uniform for the most common types of vehicles. However, this is not accurate in counties located in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions. While most vehicles are only required to undergo a simple test whereby the station checks a vehicle’s emissions system through a simple computer connection to the vehicle’s on-board diagnostics port (OBD), vehicles that are in a narrow gross vehicle weight range of 8,501 to 9,000 pounds are required to undergo a test with special equipment that measures emissions (tailpipe test or 2-speed idle test).

These tailpipe or 2-speed idle tests are highly problematic for both inspection stations and vehicle owners. For the inspection stations, these tests are so outdated that they find it difficult, if not impossible, to find replacement parts to maintain the special equipment. The scarcity of replacement parts for the equipment, coupled with the fact that only a limited number of vehicles are required to undergo this test, causes more and more stations every year to simply not offer the test. When a station no longer offers these tests, vehicle owners must take their vehicle elsewhere, causing the station not just to lose business from the emissions inspection, but also to lose business from a loss in safety inspections, as most vehicle owners will not take their vehicle to one station to do a safety inspection and to another station for an emissions inspection.

Equally as important, the owners of vehicles in this weight range are left with the difficult task of finding a station that will conduct these special emissions tests. As more and more stations no longer offer these tests, these vehicle owners must drive longer distances to stations that still conduct them, rather than taking their vehicle to their usual local mechanic. We have received numerous routine complaints from our constituents who have purchased new vehicles in this weight range, unaware of these emissions testing requirements, who must now annually find a new station with special equipment, as there is no guarantee that a station will be able to maintain the special testing equipment in future years.

It is unconscionable that our state government continues to require a vehicle emissions test that needs special equipment that cannot be repaired. It is worth noting that this special test is not even required by law, but rather by regulations. Several legislators over the past 6 years have requested that the administration simply change their regulations to replace these special emissions tests with the standard OBD test, but we have yet to see any regulatory action.

Our constituents can no longer wait for a simple regulatory change from the administration, and we are introducing legislation to eliminate this requirement. Our bill would simply replace the tailpipe or 2-speed idle tests for these certain vehicles with a simple OBD test or a gas cap test if a vehicle does not have an OBD port. This change would be contingent upon approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as state vehicle emissions testing programs are ultimately regulated by the federal government.

I hope you will join us in co-sponsoring this important legislation to eliminate this burdensome vehicle emissions regulation. It is simply unreasonable to force these vehicle owners to continue to comply with a decades-old requirement when nearly all current vehicles have the OBD port needed to conduct the standard vehicle emissions test.