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House
passes bill raising auto emissions testing fees
The
House on Tuesday approved a bill that sets fees for North
Carolina's stronger auto emissions testing program,
established by the 1999 General Assembly. The vote was 69-44
to approve the bill, H. 969 Air Quality/Motor Vehicle
Inspection Fees, sponsored by Rep. Joe Hackney (D-Orange).
The measure now goes to the Senate.
 The state’s
new auto emissions testing program will be phased in over the
next five years and expanded from the current nine urban
counties to 48. The legislation, which now goes to the Senate
for consideration, would set the motor vehicle safety and
emissions inspections fee at $34. In counties where emissions
testing is not required, the fee for safety inspections alone
would increase from $9.25 now to $14.45 in October and to $16
in 2003.
Several
efforts to amend the bill on the House floor were defeated,
including one by Rep. Larry Justus (R-Henderson) that would
have expanded the emissions testing to all 100 counties.
NCCBI
supports the bill, along with the N.C. Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, N.C. Department of Health
and Human Services, N.C. Department of Transportation, N.C.
Service Station Association, The Carolina AUTO PRO
Association, American Lung Association, Manufacturers and
Chemical Industry Council, Sierra Club, Conservation Council
of North Carolina, Independent Garage Owners of North
Carolina, N.C. Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association,
Inspection Station Association of North Carolina, and the N.C.
Retail Merchants Association.
"Nearly half of the ozone-forming emissions in North
Carolina come from motor vehicles," said Bill Ross,
secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural
Resources. "This legislation will allow us to implement
the enhanced testing program and do a better job testing the
air-pollution controls on cars and trucks, so we can reduce
ozone levels."
Ozone, the
key component in urban smog, is the most widespread air
quality problem in North Carolina. In 1999, ozone levels
exceeded the standard in North Carolina on 68 days, fifth
highest among the 50 states. Cars, trucks and other mobile
sources account for about half of the ozone-forming emissions
statewide and up to 90 percent in major metropolitan areas.
To deal with
the ozone problem, North Carolina's Clean Air Plan calls for
substantial reductions in emissions from motor vehicles and
power plants. The General Assembly enacted a major portion of
the plan in 1999 by adopting legislation that enhances and
expands the auto emissions testing program from nine to 48
counties by 2006; requires low-sulfur gasoline statewide by
2004; offers incentives for alternative fuel vehicles; and
provides more funding for rail and mass transit.
Another key
element of the Clean Air Plan is tougher controls on
nitrogen-oxide (NOx) emissions from utilities, mainly the 14
coal-fired power plants in the state, and other large
industrial sources. The Environmental Management Commission is
considering rules that would require coal-fired electric power
plants to cut their NOx emissions by 68 percent by 2006. Those
proposed requirements by the EMC are separate from the
reductions in emissions from the coal-fired power plants
contemplated in S. 1078 Air Quality/Utility Plants, which
would require power plants to reduce their year-round
emissions by about 70 percent for NOx and 75 percent for
sulfur oxides. See related story above.
The existing
emissions test now required in nine urban counties uses a
probe to directly measure the concentrations of pollutants in
the tailpipes of vehicles. But the existing tailpipe test does
not determine the cause of high pollutant levels, and it
doesn't measure for nitrogen oxides (NOx), the main cause of
ozone pollution.
Legislation
adopted last year requires services stations to test emissions
using motor vehicles' on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems, the
computers installed on all new cars and trucks since 1996. The
new test doesn't directly measure pollutants in exhaust, but
instead uses vehicles' OBD systems to determine whether all of
their pollution controls are working. If a vehicle fails the
OBD test, the computer helps to identify what needs to be
repaired. OBD testing also is less costly and time-consuming
than other methods for testing NOx emissions from motor
vehicles.
Emissions
tests currently are required in nine counties: Cabarrus,
Durham, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Orange, Union
and Wake. OBD tests will be required in the nine existing
counties for 1996 and newer vehicles, with tailpipe tests
required for 1975 through 1995 vehicles, starting on July 1,
2002. OBD tests only will be required in all new counties
added to the emissions testing program. New counties will be
added to the emissions testing program according to the
following schedule:
-
July 1,
2003 - Catawba, Cumberland, Davidson, Iredell, Johnston
and Rowan.
-
Jan. 1, 2004 - Alamance,
Chatham, Franklin, Lee, Lincoln, Moore, Randolph and
Stanly.
-
July 1, 2004 - Buncombe,
Cleveland, Granville, Harnett and Rockingham.
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Jan. 1, 2005 - Edgecombe,
Lenoir, Nash, Pitt, Robeson, Wayne and Wilson.
-
July 1, 2005 - Burke, Caldwell,
Haywood, Henderson, Rutherford, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes.
-
Jan. 1, 2006 - Brunswick,
Carteret, Craven, New Hanover and Onslow.
More
information about ozone, the emissions testing program and
other air quality issues can be found at the DAQ's web site, http://daq.state.nc.us.
House
says it’s OK for schools to post the Ten Commandments
By
a lopsided margin of 101-15, the House on Wednesday approved a
Senate-passed bill to encourage dress codes and teaching of
character education in the public schools. House Republicans
wanted to go a step further and lead a move to amend the bill
to stipulate that schools may display the Ten Commandments on
classroom walls. The bill, S. 898 Student Citizen Act of 2001
{Dalton} now goes back to the Senate for concurrence in
amendments. The Ten Commandments amendment was offered by Rep.
Don Davis (R-Harnett). It allows display of Biblical tenets on
any school property as long as they are displayed in the same
manner as "other documents of historical
significance."
Board of
Education appointees confirmed during rare joint session
Meeting
in a rare joint session, the House and Senate on Wednesday
confirmed Gov. Mike Easley's three appointments to the State
Board of Education, all of whom work in higher education. By
wide margins, the House and Senate approved the eight-year
appointments of Michelle Howard-Vital, Wayne McDevitt and
Patricia Nickens Willoughby. Howard-Vital is a vice chancellor
for the Division of Public Service and Extended Education at
UNC-Wilmington. McDevitt, a former DENR secretary and chief of
staff in Gov. Jim Hunt's administration, is an administrator
at UNC Asheville. Willoughby is an assistant education
professor at Meredith College in Raleigh. The new members fill
positions on the 15-member board left vacant by the expiration
of terms of board members Eddie Davis of Durham, Bob Douglas
of Asheville and Margaret Harvey of Kinston.
House
rejects bill to help third-party candidates
The House on
Tuesday defeated a Senate-passed bill that would have made it
easier for independents and third-party candidates to get
their names on the ballot in North Carolina. The measure, S.
10 Ballot Access Changes, was defeated by a vote of 45-71,
with 16 Democrats joining 55 Republicans to reject the
measure.
The bill would have reduced the number of signatures a
third-party candidate for statewide office needs to get on the
ballot from 2 percent of the total number of registered voters
in the state – one of the nation’s most restrictive
requirements – to 2 percent of the total number of ballots
cast in the lat gubernatorial election. The bill also would
have lowered similar thresholds for third-party candidates for
congressional, legislature and local offices.
The legislation also would have allowed third parties that get
less than 10 percent of the vote to retain their party status.
Now, third parties getting less than 10 percent of the vote
are dropped from the ballot and their official party status is
terminated.
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