GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1989 SESSION
CHAPTER 391
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 20-128.2(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) The rules and
regulations promulgated pursuant to G.S. 143-215.107(a)(6) for the purposes
of this section shall be limited to carbon monoxide, shall be statewide in
scope but enforced on a county unit basis when ambient air pollutant
concentrations exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards established
pursuant to the Clean Air Act of 1970 as amended by the Clean Air Act
amendments of 1977 and shall be implemented when the Environmental
Management Commission certifies to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles that the
ambient air quality in an area will be improved by the implementation of within
a specified county requires a motor vehicle inspection/maintenance program;
program within a specified county or group of counties, as necessary to
effect attainment or preclude violations of the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards for carbon monoxide or ozone; provided the Environmental
Management Commission may prescribe different standards vehicle
emission limits for different areas as may be necessary and appropriate to facilitate
accomplishment of meet the stated purposes of this section. Such
standards shall be no more restrictive or stringent than federal standards, as
required by G.S. 143-215.107(f)."
Sec. 2. G.S. 20-183.3 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-183.3. Inspection requirements.
(a) Before an approval certificate may be issued for a motor vehicle, the vehicle must be inspected by a safety equipment inspection station, and if required by Chapter 20 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, must be found to possess in safe operating condition the following articles and equipment:
(1) Brakes,
(2) Lights,
(3) Horn,
(4) Steering mechanism,
(5) Windshield wiper,
(6) Directional signals,
(7) Tires,
(8) Rearview mirror or mirrors.
No inspection certificate shall be issued by a safety
equipment inspection station for a motor vehicle manufactured after model year
1967 unless the vehicle is equipped with such emission control devices to
reduce air pollution as were installed at the time of manufacture which are
readily visible, provided the foregoing requirements shall not apply where such
devices have been removed for the purpose of converting the motor vehicle to
operate on natural or liquified petroleum gas or other gas. Other modifications
have been made in order to reduce air pollution, further provided that such
modifications of emission control devices shall have first been be
approved by the Department of Water and Air Resources. Environmental
Management Commission before an inspection certification is issued.
In addition to the items listed above, safety inspection equipment stations shall inspect the exhaust systems of all vehicles inspected and report the condition of each exhaust system to the owners or to the persons offering the vehicles for inspection.
The inspection requirements herein provided for shall not exceed the standards provided in the current General Statutes for such equipment.
(b) When required
pursuant to G.S. 20-128.2, and as a condition for approval certificate issuance
under subsection (a) of this section, emission control devices and exhaust
emissions shall be inspected and shall comply with those standards established
pursuant to G.S. 20-128.2 on 1975 and later model gasoline-powered
vehicles excluding manufactured within the previous 12 years which
shall exclude the current year model and, to this end, the Commissioner of
Motor Vehicles is authorized to adopt and enforce such rules and regulations as
may be necessary to carry out the intent and purpose of this section. Provided
that motorcycles as defined in G.S. 20-4.01(22) and G.S. 20-4.01(27)d shall not
be subject to the requirements of this subsection."
Sec. 3. G.S. 20-183.7 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-183.7. Charges for inspections and certificates; safety equipment inspection station records.
(a) Every safety
equipment inspection station shall charge a fee of four dollars and
twenty-five cents ($4.25) five dollars and twenty-five cents ($5.25)
effective October 1, 1989; and a fee of six dollars and twenty-five cents
($6.25) effective October 1, 1990 for inspecting a motor vehicle to
determine compliance with the safety inspection requirements of this Article
and shall give the vehicle operator a dated receipt, indicating the articles
and equipment approved and disapproved. At any time within 90 days thereafter,
when the receipt is presented to the inspection station which issued it with a
request for reinspection, that inspection station shall reinspect the vehicle
at no charge. When said Whenever any vehicle is approved,
the inspection station shall obtain a an additional fee of one
dollar ($1.00) for a valid inspection certificate, and affix the certificate to
that vehicle. vehicle or otherwise document the issuance of the
certificate in a manner prescribed by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.
(a1) For inspection of vehicles
required to be inspected under the inspection/maintenance provisions of G.S.
20-183.3(b), every safety equipment inspection station shall charge a fee of not
less than four dollars and twenty-five cents ($4.25), nor more than ten dollars
($10.00), ten dollars and ten cents ($10.10) effective October 1, 1989;
and a fee of thirteen dollars ($13.00) effective October 1, 1990, for
inspecting a motor vehicle to determine compliance with the safety inspection
requirements and the exhaust emission standards pursuant to the
inspection/maintenance requirements of this Article and shall give the vehicle
operator a dated receipt indicating the articles and equipment approved or
disapproved and whether the vehicle met the emission control standards.
If the vehicle is disapproved, at any time within 30 days thereafter when the
receipt is presented to the inspection station which issued it with a request
for reinspection, that inspection station shall reinspect the vehicle at no
charge. When said Whenever any vehicle is approved, the
inspection station shall obtain a an additional fee of not
less than one dollar ($1.00) nor more than two dollars and forty cents
($2.40) for a valid inspection certificate covering both the safety inspection
requirements and the emission control inspection/maintenance requirements and
affix the certificate to that vehicle. vehicle or otherwise document
the issuance of the certificate in a manner prescribed by the Commissioner of
Motor Vehicles. The amount of the fees under this subsection shall be
set by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.
(b) Self-inspector stations licensed under G.S. 20-183.4 are exempt from the inspecting fee provisions of subsection (a) above, but shall pay to the Division of Motor Vehicles the prescribed certificate fee for each inspection certificate issued by it.
(c) Fees collected for inspection certificates shall be paid to the Division of Motor Vehicles in accordance with its regulations and shall be periodically transferred as follows:
(1) After making the
transfer provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, seventy-five cents
(75¢) of the fee for the valid inspection sticker certificate collected
pursuant to subsection (a) shall be transferred to the Highway Fund, and the
remaining moneys shall be transferred to the Department of Insurance for the
Volunteer Rescue Squad Fund created in G.S. 118-50 118-51.
(2) After making the
transfer provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, the fee collected
pursuant to subsection (a1) shall be transferred as follows: the first
thirty-five cents (35¢) to the Division of Environmental Management; the next
twenty cents (20¢) to the Department of Insurance for the Volunteer Rescue
Squad Fund created in G.S. 118-50 118-51; and any excess up to
one dollar and eighty-five cents ($1.85) to the Highway Fund.
(3) Five cents (5¢) of the
fee for the valid inspection sticker certificate collected
pursuant to subsections (a) and (a1) shall be transferred each quarter of the
year to the North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance, for the purpose of
funding the Rescue Squad Workers' Relief Fund under Article 5 of General
Statute Chapter 118.
(d) Each inspection station shall maintain a record of inspections performed, in a form approved by the Division of Motor Vehicles, for a period of 18 months and such records shall be made available for inspection by any law-enforcement officer, upon demand, during normal business hours."
Sec. 3.1. The Environmental Review Commission, established by G.S. 120-70.41, is directed to study a contractor-operated, centralized emissions inspection program as an alternative to the current decentralized emissions inspection program and to make any recommendations on this topic it considers appropriate to the 1990 Regular Session of the 1989 General Assembly. In making this study, the Commission shall seek the advice of the Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles, and shall consider how the emissions inspection program can be operated most effectively and economically with the greatest reduction in pollutants generated by motor vehicles.
Sec. 4. This act is effective upon ratification, provided however, fees in effect prior to the effective date of this act shall remain in effect until October 1, 1989.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 21st day of June, 1989.