Senate Transportation trims S.66, directs AOT to develop noise standards and enforcement plan

Senate Transportation reviewed S.66, a bill that would add statewide vehicle-noise rules, and agreed Thursday to pare back parts the committee found difficult to enforce while directing the Agency of Transportation (AOT) to recommend measurable standards and an enforcement process.

The move matters because Vermont currently lacks a statewide objective noise standard for motor vehicles; the committee heard testimony that the patchwork of municipal ordinances and existing inspection guidance leaves residents without a clear reporting or enforcement path.

Committee members focused on four main issues: whether muffler and exhaust changes should be enforced roadside or through the state inspection system; numeric sound limits and how to measure them; special rules for heavy trucks and engine-compression brakes (commonly called "Jake brakes"); and how to set up enforcement without overburdening law enforcement.

The committee kept the bill’s core inspection linkage but agreed to remove or revise language the members said was subjective or would be difficult for inspection stations to apply. Damian Leonard, counsel to the Senate Transportation Committee, walked members through the interaction between the proposed changes and existing inspection law, citing the inspection statute and the DMV manual’s sections that address exhaust systems. "Reject vehicle if the vehicle has no muffler," Leonard said, reading from the inspection manual’s guidance and noting other inspection failures such as nonmanufactured holes or components not securely fastened.

Members discussed two enforcement pathways: (1)…