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House approves narrower vehicle-inspection schedule and a 94¢ registration fee to fund troopers
Summary
The Utah House passed Third Substitute House Bill 2 98, adjusting motor vehicle inspection intervals to model-year-based checks on years 4, 8, 10 and 12 and adding a 94¢ per-registration fee on passenger cars to fund new Utah Highway Patrol troopers; the measure passed 52-18 and will go to the Senate.
The Utah House on March 2 approved a compromise to the state's vehicle safety inspection program that replaces the Second Substitute of House Bill 298 with a Third Substitute that changes inspection intervals and adds new funding for troopers.
Representative Ipsen, who offered the substitute, said the bill would require inspections on model years 4, 8, 10 and 12 and annually thereafter. "We do inspections on years 4, 8, 10, and 12, and every year thereafter," Ipsen said while describing the negotiated changes.
To offset costs and expand patrol capacity, the substitute adds 94¢ to each passenger-vehicle registration, a fee Ipsen said will raise enough funds "to add 7 new ... troopers that were not previously hired" and allow administrative reassignment of seven current troopers to field duty. The substitute also includes a budget item to add six troopers with an effective date of July 1, 2012; the seven new hires funded by the 94¢ are to be placed on the road effective Jan. 1, 2013.
Backers said the changes reflect a compromise among lawmakers and stakeholders. Representative Greenwood, recounting prior staffing history in the Utah Highway Patrol, urged support as a long-overdue staffing step. Representative Dougal, the bill sponsor, summed up the intent: "I believe getting more troopers on the road and toning down the inspection program is in the best interest of the citizens."
Opponents registered their votes against the measure, but debate was cut off by a successful motion for the previous question. The Third Substitute passed the House by a vote of 52 yes to 18 no and will be transmitted to the Senate for consideration.
The bill text as described in House debate sets inspection years, the 94¢ registration fee on private passenger vehicles only (explicitly excluding heavy trucks and farm equipment), reassignment or new hires for the Utah Highway Patrol, and the stated effective dates for staffing changes. The House record does not include the full fiscal note or a line-item appropriation in debate; those details are contained in the bill packet and fiscal analyses transmitted with the legislation.
