The Pennsylvania House of Representatives wants the state to conduct a study that will determine how old a vehicle can be to be exempted from the state’s annual emissions testing requirement and still comply with federal environmental rules.

By a vote of 193-0 on Monday, the House approved legislation calling on the state Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, to analyze multiple year scenarios of vehicles from brand-new up to eight years old to determine the appropriate length of an exemption period from the 17-year-old emissions testing requirement. The study is to be completed within six months of the proposed law’s enactment.

The bill now goes back to the Senate where it originated for concurrence on changes the House made. Its fate there seems uncertain.

Some 21 states, or nearly three-quarters of the states that require vehicle emissions testing, authorize an exemption for new vehicles ranging from two to eight years old. The average is four years.

In Pennsylvania, all gasoline-powered cars, vans and light-duty trucks registered to owners in 25 counties, including many in the southcentral part of the state, are required to have annual emissions inspections done regardless of age as a result of a 2003 settlement of two lawsuits filed by environmental groups. The inspections cost about $40 per inspection.

But a recent study found that many vehicle owners were needlessly having to pay for the inspections since less than 2% of vehicles newer than nine years old failed the emissions test.

This led Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County, to sponsor legislation that the Senate passed last summer to move forward with a blanket exemption for vehicles less than nine years old. Her bill said this exemption would only take effect if it received the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s blessing. That EPA seal of approval is crucial to avoid putting $420 million a year in federal highway aid the state receives in jeopardy.

But when her bill landed in the House Transportation Committee, lawmakers there thought it was more prudent to study the idea first. Ward told PennLive last month she was not in favor of that change the House made.

"My bill was not a study,” Ward said. “The bill the way it is is not something we’re going to concur with or accept.”

Meanwhile, several garage owners have raised a separate concern that speaks to the money they have laid out to buy the emissions testing equipment that would be used less often if the emissions exemptions take effect. They said they hope that if the bill passes it includes some reimbursement for that expense they incurred.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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