(Raleigh News Observer) Before they left town Tuesday, House legislators put the finishing touches on a few bills.
Among them was House bill 585, which ends required emissions checks for cars from the three most recent model years and older cars with less than 70,000 miles on the odometer.
The bill proved controversial with both Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Raleigh Republican, and Rep. Joe Hackney, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, raising concerns.
“I am concerned about automobiles that are not having their emissions checks in areas where we have emissions concerns, here in the Triangle, the Triad and Charlotte,” he said.
Hackney, in one of his final debates, said the 70,000-mile threshold was too high. “If it exempted car models from the last two years, I might have voted differently,” he said.
But Rep. Edgar Starnes, a Republican from Hickory, said that newer cars met various pollution emissions standards, making inspections on them unneeded. He also said he didn’t think the bill would significantly affect businesses that do such inspections.
Also passed in the last hours was Senate bill 847, a technical corrections bill. Among the measures it approved.
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