CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In June of 2023, Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3297 to eliminate annual vehicle inspections. However, Texans will still be required to pay the $7.50 fee that will instead to go to the Texas Mobility Fund, general revenue fund, and the clean air account.
Josue Garcia, a Corpus Christi resident, weighed in on the coming changes.
"So we're not going to have to go the inspection, but we're still getting charged? Man, that's tough. That's kind of kind of like dipping in the pockets when you don't need to. That's what we call pocket watching," Garcia said.
Eliminating these required vehicle inspections has also led to safety concerns from drivers like Garcia.
"Having a family you kind of think, who's next to my family? It's not in a bad way. And it's not judging the person, it's just judging the situation as far as not having an inspection," Garcia said.
Garcia also argues that if an inspector tells someone they need to fix something on their car, they'll be more inclined to do so.
"They check a lot of stuff that we normally get to see, but people get complacent. And they won't do something about it until their told that something is wrong," Garcia said.
I asked Constable for Precinct 2, Jason McCahan if we were going to see a lot of cars in rough shape with this new bill.
"I don't believe that's going to happen. I think its going to streamline the process," McCahan said.
McCahan adds that this new bill will not change the way the streets are patrolled.
"We still patrol, we still look for registration, if it's expired were still going to pull you over," McCahan said.
So, what about new cars? Rather than paying $7.50, you will pay a one time charge of $16.75 to get that vehicle registered. The bill will go into effect January 1 2025.
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