The Texas Senate on Thursday voted to give those pesky annual state vehicle inspections the boot. By a vote of 27-4, after lengthy debate, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 1588 that would drop the current mandate that all personal vehicles undergo annual state safety inspections.
Commercial vehicles still would have to have them, and vehicles in 17 counties including those in the Houston metro that have air-quality restrictions would have to pass emissions tests.
"This is a tax cut that Texans will feel," said state Sen. Don Huffines, a Dallas Republican who authored the measure. "It will save Texans $130 million they're now having to pay for a procedure that has proven to have no discernible safety benefit to drivers."
For most drivers, the annual savings from the change -- if the House approves the bill — will be $7.
Huffines said that more than nine million man hours are spent on the inspections, which affect more than 50,000 Texans a day.
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