By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – Onboard diagnostic testing for vehicles and air quality provisions would be eliminated from state vehicle inspections by 2027, and for the first three years of a new car’s life, it could skip motor vehicle inspections entirely under an amendment to the budget agreed to Friday by the Senate Finance Committee.

Budget writers on both sides of the aisle agreed to the idea that Sen. Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, offered which he called a “down the middle approach” to an issue which is “important to constituents.”

He said it would go into effect in 2027 after the Department of Environmental Services files a waiver request from the federal government and time needed to change the law.

The amendment also called for the department to file a report every six months on any issues and progress with the change.

The cost of the inspections would not go down, Pearl said.

Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, called it a “good plan” and uses common sense with a practical solution that allows DES to act appropriately and considers costs to individuals who find they have a “check engine” light and cannot register the car without spending hundreds of dollars to find that the car works the same and there was no problem.

“It’s a good plan,” Watters said, “Let’s see how it goes.”

There are only 13 states that currently require some form of annual or biennial inspection.

Pearl said the bill would allow almost $4 million to go back to the Highway Safety Fund.

Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, said he thought it was a great compromise and this would allow the state to go back to a safety program.

House Bill 649 which sought to eliminate the program entirely passed the House in March despite the assertions that the Department of Safety would lose about $3.4 million a year.

The Senate Commerce Committee recommended the inspections be every other year but that was halted and the bill was placed on the table with some believing it was in a precarious position of being eliminated for this year.

At the House hearing there were stories of vehicle inspection sticker nightmares and “check engine lights” failing state inspections and thousands of dollars spent and lost work hours driving and what ending it means for air quality were among the issues discussed during the continued public hearing on the bill.

Sponsored by state Rep. Michael Granger, R-Milton Mills, he said the bill was very popular among his constituents and that was echoed by Senators on Friday.

While it was in the House, Granger said he would oppose it becoming a study committee and would not be happy with making it a biennial mandate.

He received support from the House leadership Deputy Speaker and State Rep. Steven Smith, R-Charlestown, who told the Senate committee that poor people who fail inspections just can’t go and buy another car.

“It’s time to end this. As chair of the Transportation Committee for four years previously I tried to get reforms to this system and failed. It’s a locked box. And there seems there is nothing we can do about it. Well, there is one thing we can do about it. You can get rid of it. So members of the committee as you inspect this program, I urge you don’t give it another sticker, take it off the road today,” Smith said.

The vote in the House was 212-143.

Senators heard from a number of long-time car repair shop owners including those retired, those who want to do away with stickers and consumers some of whom criticized speakers from the previous week arguing they had financial interests and those who called the system a “scam.” Others disagreed on the basis of safety and air quality. But the hearing was heavy on support for passage of some form of reform or elimination.

Jeremy Olson of Manchester, said he bought a former police cruiser that was un-inspectable because of changes made by law enforcement, yet it had a sticker when he bought it.

In the COVID-19 days another vehicle got a “legitimate failure” but due to supply chain issues it took eight weeks to get tires. When he went back the inspector said he has a 30-day policy saying he would have to recharge him for everything.

“That was my last straw with this program,” he said. He told Senators he knows people who have gotten rid of perfectly good cars because of the inspection program. 

Steve Zemanick Manchester, said he could rant for hours about NH’s inspection sticker program, which he said has “at least” become a complete “scam.” 

But Tim Austin, a Fitzwilliam auto shop owner, opposed the bill which would abolish inspections. 

He said people need to care about the state’s environment.

Retired Dover auto repairman David Dupont, said last Tuesday’s hearing was full of people who said there is significant fraud in the system. 

“Personally, I have not seen a lot of fraud,” he said adding vehicles are quite complex and a check engine light is often telling you the vehicle is polluting more.

“How is that good for New Hampshire?” he asked.

The Senate Finance Committee also took votes Friday to recommend it restore at least seven positions in the Department of Corrections which were taken out in the House version of the budget and the restoration of eight positions in the Department of Safety related to commercial enforcement.

It left on hold a big ticket item for Monday’s deliberations related to funding the Group II retirement plan.

It did establish premiums for the child care health inspection program and the Granite Advantage program, despite concerns from Democratic Sen. Cindy Rosenwald that this would be a $1,000 a year burden to a single mom making $26,000 a year.

Sen. Regina Birsdsell, R-Hampstead, said the premiums would not be income based but on services provided.

The committee also agreed to advance funding for a position for someone to help assist with the elimination of a backlog in Medicaid long-term care eligibility determinations which are crippling nursing homes and other providers who are waiting as long as 18 months without pay for some of their patients.

Birdsell offered the amendment which would partially offset costs by temporarily increasing the annual nursing home license fee from $25 to $80 which is expected to raise $300,000 per year, resulting in a net cost of $2.4 million over the biennium.

The Senate Finance Committee will come back to work on the budget on Monday at 10 a.m. and is expected to take much of the day deliberating over the remaining budget questions.

The expectation is that they will have a budget prepared to vote on by the full Senate when it meets next Thursday at 10 a.m.

The budget will then be sent over to the House to see if the two chambers can come to an agreement on differences before any document goes to Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte.