Giasson: Sky Didn't Fall In NH When Inspection Stickers Disappeared

By Henry Giasson, NH Journal

If you drive a car in Goffstown, you know the exact pit in your stomach I am talking about.

It is the end of your birth month, and you are sitting in a waiting room holding a lukewarm cup of cheap coffee, waiting to hear whether your vehicle passed inspection. You know your car runs fine. You drive your kids to soccer practice in it, and you rely on it to get to work every morning. But suddenly, a $30 sticker check turns into a $1,500 estimate for minor repairs you were not expecting and cannot afford right now.

For far too long, that annual ritual felt less like a safety check and more like a high-stakes gamble with your household budget. It was a hidden, regressive tax that hit working families and seniors on fixed incomes the hardest.

As a member of the House Transportation Committee, I spent years trying to make this system reasonable, even before I was elected. We did not start out trying to throw the whole thing in the trash. We sat down with stakeholders and asked simple questions: How can we make this fair? How can we stop predatory practices while keeping people safe?

Instead of working with us, the special interests dug in their heels and refused to negotiate. When they ran out of actual evidence, they defaulted to the worst kind of fearmongering. They told us that if we got rid of the mandatory inspection sticker requirement, “people were going to die” on our roads.

Well, the mandatory inspection sticker requirement has been gone for more than a year now, and guess what? The sky has not fallen. The fearmongers could not point to a single accident, let alone a fatality, caused by the end of mandatory inspection stickers. Not one.

Now, as the state continues fighting to clear away the remaining federal obstacles to permanently ending the inspection mandate, the special interests are in a full-blown panic. Gordon-Darby, the Kentucky-based company that has served as New Hampshire’s inspection-program vendor, has challenged the state’s decision in federal court, arguing that ending the program violates the federal Clean Air Act. The company has made money from New Hampshire’s inspection system for years, and that business is now at stake.

The legal battle has also featured arguments about air quality and the environmental consequences of ending the emissions-inspection program. But let’s put that argument in perspective. According to America’s Health Rankings, New Hampshire currently ranks third among the states for air quality, based on average exposure to fine particulate matter.

After more than a year without mandatory inspections, Granite Staters can look around and see that our air has not suddenly turned to arsenic.

Granite Staters are way too smart to fall for that.

Let me be as clear as possible: Ending mandatory inspection stickers was never about legalizing unsafe cars. Under New Hampshire law, your car still has to be safe to drive. Your brakes, tires, steering and lights must all be in proper working order. If someone is driving a dangerous jalopy with bald tires and no brakes, law enforcement still has every right to pull them over and take that car off the road.

The fundamental difference comes down to respect.

We believe in personal responsibility. I trust my neighbors in Goffstown to take care of their vehicles. You do not need a government-mandated middleman threatening to take away your ability to drive to work just to remind you to fix your brakes. You fix your car because you care about your family’s safety.

We promised to protect consumers, eliminate unnecessary mandates, and respect your hard-earned money. House Republicans stood up to out-of-state special interests and got the job done for the hardworking, everyday Granite Stater who needs a break as a birthday gift, not thousands of dollars in nonessential “repairs.”

Goffstown families deserve a government that trusts their judgment instead of nickel-and-diming them at every turn. I will always stand up for common sense, fight against hidden taxes, and ensure New Hampshire remains a place where you can live free and drive.

Rep. Henry Giasson is a Republican representing Goffstown in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He wrote this for NHJournal.com.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.