Could Louisiana lawmaker eliminate vehicle inspection stickers in constitutional convention?
A Louisiana lawmaker said his bill to eliminate the state's annual vehicle inspection sticker requirement has stalled out for this legislative session, but he vowed to jump start his effort possibly as soon as this summer.
Shreveport-area Republican Rep. Larry Bagley was able to advance his House Bill 344 from the House Transportation Committee in March, but it was referred to the House Appropriations Committee because spiking the sticker would cost the state $14 million in annual revenue.
Bagley said he couldn't secure the support to advance the bill from Appropriations, so he never pressed for a hearing.
Now Bagley is eyeing the proposed constitutional convention as a path for his bill. A bill to convene a constitutional convention this summer has cleared the House but faces headwinds in the Senate.
"If we have a convention I'm going to try to get it in the state Constitution," Bagley said in an interview with USA Today Network. "If not, I'm going to come back with it next year. I'm a hard-headed lawmaker."
Bagley and other critics of the vehicle inspection sticker program claim it creates an unnecessary expense and inconvenience for drivers with little or no impact on safety.
He testified that only 11 states and none of Louisiana's contiguous neighbors require safety inspection stickers.
"I want us all to be safe, but I don't think ($10 annual) inspection stickers have one thing to do with that," Bagley said during the bill's hearing in the Transportation Committee.
Bagley and Rep. Rodney Schamerhorn, R-Hornbeck, also said most inspections are a sham, though an advocate for the businesses denied it.
"I hate to say this, but they just see how fast they can scratch one off and put a new one on," Schamerhorn said, echoing Bagley's assessment.
Inspection station personnel are supposed to conduct safety inspections on everything from cracked windshields that would inhibit vision to headlights to tinted windows to tires.
Bagley and others testified that even if those legitimate inspections take place, it's a single moment in time. "A windshield can get cracked as soon as you turn the corner after getting a new inspection sticker," he told USA Today Network.
Schamerhorn also noted that traffic fines for expired inspection stickers can be as much as $250. "It's outrageous," he said.
Supporters of Bagley's bill also said nothing prevents police from stopping vehicles with obvious safety problems whether they have updated inspection stickers or not.
But other members of the committee said they believe the annual inspections do offer some additional level of safety and an advocate for businesses who issue the stickers said they provide "annual accountability."
"This concerns me," said Democratic Vidalia Rep. Travis Johnson. "When someone is driving (an unsafe vehicle) it puts others at risk."
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Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1
This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: What happened with effort to drop Louisiana vehicle inspection sticker?
