AzMotorNews.com
Freedom From Ineffective E-Testing
The
History & Background
Of
House Bill 2501
By
Bill Gilmore for AzMotorNews.com
Please Note All House Bill Links have been fixed as of 9-25-03 they now take you to the correct bill.
Back on January 23rd of 2002 Az State Representative Dean Cooley of
HB2501
would have completely
exempted motorcycles from mandatory emission-testing in
Representative Cooley (who owns a restored 1966 Ford Mustang GT Fastback) also submitted HB2496, with imput, help and support from auto hobbyists & insurance people.
HB2496
would have created a new state license plate (copper tag) for "Collectable
Vehicles," which were defined as 15-year and older vehicles that are
legally identified by their having special "collector-use"
insurance policies which limited their secondary vehicle usage to just
recreational purposes only and were specifically not to be used for daily
commuting or work/school use.
These "secondary vehicle" insurance policies usually require that the
collectable vehicle's owner have a "primary vehicle" to use for normal
daily driving and commuting.
According to HB2496,
if a vehicle was insured and licensed in
These contracts provided legal evidence that collectable vehicles
very limited annual emissions were insignificant to the whole air quality
picture and that collectable vehicles were not a part of Phoenix and
Tucson's urban air pollution problems, and as such, should not be subjected to
unnecessary and ineffective regulatory mandates regarding emission-testing.
Unfortunately for hobbyists and collectors in
HB2045
would have created a rolling 20 year and newer emission-testing requirement for
all daily driven commuter vehicles as is the current law in many states.
The Arizona air quality bureaucrats loudly objected to all three bills. Claiming
to lawmakers that they already had a written air quality
"contract" with the US-EPA and could not change absolutely anything in
that "contract" without first getting the EPA's approval in Washington
DC.
It's
ironic though, how this very same argument from concerned citizens and
environmentalists didn't stop ADEQ from dropping the EPA approved
"Remote-Sensing" Program which the ADEQ had labeled as
unnecessary and ineffective. (That dear readers, is an example of
On the flip side of that two-faced coin. The gasoline oxygenate MTBE, added to help clean our air just a little, is also poisoning our groundwater by quite a lot wherever it is spilled.
Unfortunately, (again), they say that this dangerous, groundwater poisoning, cancer-causing, MTBE oxygenated fuels program can't be stopped or changed either, because of Arizona's air quality "contract" with the US-EPA to use oxygenated fuels. (Do we really have to poison our water to clean our air? Go figure??)
Anyway, I'm digressing with all of this politically polluted background information for you as Representative Cooley had already heard all of these circular arguments/excuses before, and sensing that these three bills were destined to die or disappear into a committee chairman's bottom drawer. He decided to take some action to at least get the ball rolling in the right direction.
So before the powerful Air Quality Lobby could organize enough opposition to kill or "table" these three separate bills in committees where they could control the votes.
Representative Cooley on 2-11-02, used a "Strike-All" amendment on HB2501 to require the ADEQ to do a usage and emission inventory survey for motorcycles and collectable vehicles.
Since government studies and surveys are usually considered harmless. They are easier to pass through the various committee hearings without getting much of a challenge. Thus HB2501 quietly passed into law and was signed by our Governor on 5-6-02.
The ADEQ now needs to find out if emission-testing motorcycles and/or collectable vehicles makes any significant difference to Phoenix and Tucson's urban air quality problems.
If the results of these Vehicle Usage Surveys do not show any significant difference or improvement to air quality from emission-testing motorcycles and/or collectable vehicles. The ADEQ is required by HB2501 to then request an emission-test exemption for motorcycles and/or collectable vehicles from the US-EPA in Washington DC.
They have to 12-31-04 to do it or deny it by showing that limited-use collectable vehicles run just as dirty as the average daily driven commuter vehicle of the same year, make and model.
Likewise, if the ADEQ can show data that motorcycles used for recreational purposes run just as dirty as daily drivers of the same year, make and model. They won't have to request an emission-test exemption for motorcycles.
Will they or won't they? Only time (and data) will tell. In the meantime both 2 and 4 wheeled vehicle enthusiasts are spreading the word to get as many vehicle owners as possible to turn in those confidential ADEQ Usage Surveys by their 9-30-03 deadlines. (I have also heard some talk about ADEQ being willing to accept late arriving surveys during early October, but don't push your luck.)
So tune in to AzMotorNews.com for copies of, and updates on, the ADEQ Motorcycle & Collectable Vehicle Usage Surveys along with the latest vehicular scoop d'jour.
This article written by Bill Gilmore for AzMotorNews.com 9-03.
E-mail Bill at: AzCarCrazy@aol.com or call (602) 230-7111.
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