Canyon County is still going steady with the emissions testing and repairs ever since Nampa emissions testing began two months ago. Perhaps after a year there will be some changes to our program but for now the testing remains standard to our county’s regulations.
Not so for other areas and states. It has been determined earlier that our neighbor Ada County is contemplating some changes to its emissions program come next year. And now it has been reported that New Jersey, one of the states that have adopted California’s strict emission laws years ago, has made changes of their own. New Jersey has now ended inspections on privately owned vehicles, and has limited emissions testing to vehicles that have turned five years old instead of four.
The decision to end the vehicle inspections was motivated by the prospect of saving the state millions of dollars. The Motor Vehicle Commission also says that it can no longer justify spending millions on inspections and re-inspections done every year. This decision will only be for privately-owned vehicles. Commercial-plated vehicles such as buses and taxi cabs will still be subject to emissions testing and mechanical inspections for public safety.
As for the state’s emissions testing, the test will be conducted on cars that are five years old instead of four. Testing every two years is still required, but the car will not have to be checked for other mechanical problems like faulty brakes and broken tail lights.
Nampa may have to make some decisions like these in the future. Right now, however, as we are still only two months old in the program, we will just have to stick with our regulations and see how things are next year.
