Senate adopts dealer-disclosure amendment to vehicle-inspection bill after safety debate

On second reading the Senate debated House Bill 649, which would remove the statutory requirement for physical safety inspections tied to onboard diagnostic testing and eliminate funding for the motor vehicle air pollution abatement fund. The Commerce committee reported no recommendation by a 3–3 vote.

Senator McGough introduced a floor amendment intended to "put some alignment back into existing law and ask dealers to make a safety evaluation that most of them already do, and it gives them three choices," he said: dealers may disclose (1) they examined the vehicle and found no defects, (2) they examined and listed defects, or (3) that the vehicle is sold strictly "as is." He emphasized the amendment does not reinstate mandatory inspections or create new bureaucracy.

Several senators raised concerns about the lack of a statutory, enforceable definition of an "unsafe vehicle," particularly as it relates to roadside identification of hazards such as worn tires. Senator Perkins Quocca and Senator Prentiss said they supported consumer protection but sought clearer language; McGough said stakeholders and the Department of Safety are working to define unsafe vehicle standards before February 1 when parts of the prior statute lapse.

The body adopted the floor amendment and later voted that the bill, as amended, "ought to pass" and ordered it to the committee on finance.

What happens next: HB 649 will go to the Committee on Finance and may return with further clarifying language on a statutory definition of "unsafe vehicle."