How Many States Have Emissions Repair Waiver

Location:
MOTOR VEHICLES - EMISSION CONTROL SYSTEMS;
Scope:
Connecticut laws/regulations; Federal laws/regulations; Program Description;

OLR Research Report


April xi, 2022		2011-R-0146
EMISSIONS Exam WAIVER THRESHOLD

By: Paul Frisman, Principal Analyst

Y'all asked (1) when the motor vehicle emissions test waiver was established, (two) what the amount of the threshold was at that time, and (iii) what information technology is now.

SUMMARY

Federal regulations require certain states, including Connecticut, to issue compliance waivers to sure motor vehicle owners whose vehicles fail an initial emissions examination, and, later on emissions-related repairs are made, a subsequent re-test. Owners may obtain this waiver if they spend more than than a specified amount on the repairs and encounter sure other conditions. The regulations, which took effect in 1989, set the minimum amount an owner must spend on repairs at $450, and required states to adjust this figure annually for aggrandizement. The electric current waiver threshold is $660.

The federal regulations, and subsequent state legislation, replaced an earlier state waiver provision. Under that provision, offset enacted in 1978, the owner of a vehicle that failed its initial emissions test and, after the necessary repairs were made, a subsequent re-test, could qualify for a waiver based on "unreasonable cost of repair" (PA 78-335). The law initially established this minimum threshold at $75. It subsequently reduced this amount to $seventy in 1979 (PA 79-238) and to $40 in 1983 (PA 83-561).

EMISSIONS Examination WAIVER

U.S. Ecology Protection Agency regulations, which took outcome in 1989, set standards for states with enhanced emissions inspection programs, such every bit Connecticut. They required, among other things, that these states set a minimum cost for repairs necessary to qualify for a waiver from compliance (xl CFR 51.360). Under the regulation, this had to be to the lowest degree $450, adjusted annually each January by the percentage that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the preceding calendar year differs from the 1989 CPI.

Consequently, the legislature in 1993 scrapped its before $40 repair toll provision and set "an unreasonable toll of repair" every bit a cost in backlog of that required past the federal regulations (PA 93-312).

The state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has since specified the actual waiver corporeality through regulation (Conn Agency Regs. � 14-164c-11a (b)). The regulations specifying the current waiver threshold of $660 were adopted in 2004.

More information on the waiver procedure tin be constitute on the DMV website at CT Emissions Program - FAQs - Failu res and Re-tests (http://world wide web.ctemissions.com/faqs-failuresretest.html). More information on the history of the waiver standards tin exist establish in OLR Report 2008-R-0028 (http://cga.ct.gov/2008/rpt/2008-R-0028.htm).

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