May 15: Senate Floor vote. HB649 was sent back to the Commerce Committee today. Our work is not done! Details below.
Car inspections are a scam! Help us get rid of them this year!
Are you sick of being forced each year to have your car inspected—to spend $40 or $50 only to be told by a mechanic that your car needs hundreds or thousands of dollars of suspicious repairs before he’ll issue that windshield sticker? Are you tired of worrying every year that your car is going to be taken hostage by these state-mandated inspections?
The New Hampshire Legislature is considering HB649, which will eliminate these car inspection scams once and for all! If you want to never have to waste money and endure mechanics holding your car hostage on bogus repair claims again, join us and help pass this bill!
You can read the bill, sponsored by Rep. Michael Granger, here and check on its status using GenCourtMobile. You can also read some positive media coverage here.
May 15: Senate Floor vote
The full Senate voted on HB649 today and unfortunately decided to “re-refer” the bill to the Commerce Committee. The bad news is this means nothing passed today, and we still have a lot of work to do.
The good news is our bill is not dead: This was a tactical move to kill a very bad floor amendment that would have otherwise passed.
The committee amendment that we were promised failed to materialize. Late in the day today, what was supposed to be that amendment was finally published, and it was so watered down that it was essentially useless. It did repeal most of the safety rules and eliminate rulemaking authority. And it even created a proper appeals process to deal with unscrupulous mechanics—something we didn’t even know they were considering. However, it did not eliminate emissions or "check wallet" light failures and it did not switch us to biennial inspections. It also included provisions that would make things easier only for new car owners, which is just a handout to the car dealerships (and was likely put in their by the senators who receive thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the NHADA).
We learned that our supporters in the Senate were prepared to call out this garbage amendment in a floor fight, and if successful, propose a second floor amendment bringing back the omitted items above—or, failing that, just go all out on the original bill to get a roll call vote—thus putting all our enemies on the record. So, moments before the bill was to be heard, Commerce Chairman Dan Innis decided the solution was to send the bill back to the committee so they could work on it further.
The motion to re-refer was made and passed 19–3. Sens. Keith Murphy, Tim McGough, and Victoria Sullivan voted against the motion. Sen. Donovan Fenton recused himself. Sen. Kevin Avard was absent. All others voted for it and it passed.
We would like to thank our pro-liberty senators for voting against the motion and trying to bring forward the better amendment we were promised. However, at this juncture, we are not interpreting those who voted for the motion to necessarily be our opponents. Innis was correct that the amendment was nonviable and he wants the committee to work something out that can actually pass.
The important thing is our bill is not dead and we still have a lot of work to do. We’ll be posting more updates soon on the next steps we need to take to end the sticker scam once and for all.
May 13: Senate Commerce Committee vote
We did it again! HB649 will hit the whole Senate with a motion of ought to pass with amendment!
The Senate Commerce committee held their hearing today, and after much debate, the bill came out of committee 3–3, with no official recommendation. The committee chairman, Sen. Dan Innis, proposed an amendment which he will present on the Senate floor.
The amendment does not give us a full repeal, but gets rid of some of the most onerous issues we’ve enountered with the sticker scam. It—
- Removes the OBD and emissions requirements;
- Reduces the safety inspection to things that are truly safety issues (e.g., tires and brakes), eliminating the items that are used most commonly to rip motorists off; and
- Switches us to a biennial rather than annual requirement.
We of course would like to see our original bill pass as written, but a total repeal does not have sufficient support in the Senate this year. This amendment however, gets us halfway there, so we are supporting it and ask all our supporters to call and email the Senate and do the same. Rest assured we will be back again next year, and the year after if need be, to end the sticker scam for good!
Finally, we would like to thank Senators Tim McGough, Keith Murphy, and Chairman Dan Innis for making this happen. Senators Reardon and Perkins-Kwoka (sitting in for Fenton, who recused himself) voted against all the committee amendments, and Senator Ricciardi also presented a bad amendment, which failed, and then she voted against Innis’ amendment.
April 1 & 8: Senate Commerce Committee hearing
Thank you to everyone who came out to the Senate Commerce Committee hearing. So many people came out to this hearing that they had to split it across two days! The committee should be voting on the bill early next week. We’ll keep you apprised as to how that goes!
We would also like to thank—
Americans for Prosperity – New Hampshire for organizing phonebanks to ask constituents to reach out to Sens. Ricciardi and Innis;
Citizens Alliance New Hampshire and Young Americans for Liberty for sending over three thousand text messages to voters in Sen. Ricciardi’s district;
Our prime sponsor, Rep. Michael Granger;
Our other champions in the House, including House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, Rep. Henry Giasson, Rep. Tom Mannion, Rep. John Sellers, and many more!
March 6: Our bill passed 212–143!
HB649 passed the House on March 6 on a 212–143 vote!
Thank you to everyone who called and emailed their reps, or used the form we set up to email all 400 of them. Some reps said they received over 600 emails and it was the largest email campaign this year. Our efforts definitely made the difference!
The bill now moves onto the Senate, where it will have its first public hearing in the next few weeks. We’ll be in touch again as soon as we launch that campaign!
We did it! HB649 will hit the whole House with an ought to pass motion!
Our bill was voted on by the Transportation Committee today. After a debate that went on for half an hour, where multiple motions on the bill were defeated 8–8, the bill will go to the whole House with no official recommendation. However, Chairman Thomas Walsh was in favor of the bill, so the first motion on the House floor will be ought to pass.
We don’t have a date for the whole House vote yet, but expect it in a week or two. Until then, here is how you can help out!
Some key takeaways
Our email campaign worked. Three representatives on the committee admitted they were personally opposed to HB649, but after receiving an “overwhelming” outpouring of support from their constituents, they decided to vote YES on our bill.
The committee is tired of listening to lobbyists and corrupt special interests. Chairman Walsh recounted a history of trying to fix the current inspection regime—for 12 years now—during which he has met continual resistance from industry lobbyists and mechanics profiting from the inspection scam. He pointed out that the contractor that supplies the test equipment, Gordon-Darby, has outright refused to implement 2018 changes to the law concerning superficial rust. Unreasonable resistance to 2024’s HB1637 by N.H. Automobile Dealers Association lobbyists and self-serving mechanics finally pushed him over the edge. He now opposes the program and supported our bill.
The bill has bipartisan support. From the exec session, it’s apparent that our strongest supporters are Henry Giasson (R–Hillsborough 29) and Charlie St. Clair (D–Belknap 5), and of course Chairman Walsh (R–Merrimack 10). Conservatives support this bill because it gets the State out of private business. Liberals support this bill because it’s a regressive tax and hurts the poor the most.
What next? How can I help out?
First, if you haven’t already, sign up for alerts here! We’ll be in touch!
The next step is a floor vote by the whole House of Representatives. This will take place today. If you want to end this scam, your reps need to hear from you! Here's what you can do—
Call and email your own representatives and urge them to vote YES on HB649. Be sure to indicate you are one of their constituents! If you don’t know who your reps are, you can find out here.
Email the entire House and urge them to vote YES on HB649. You can now do this using the form here. Today is the floor vote, so it is less likely they will see anymore emails. Call them if you can!
Remember, we flipped three committee member votes by barraging them with stories of how corrupt car inspections are. Every single representative now needs to hear this!
Email tips
Subject. In the subject line, state the bill number (HB649) and that you support the bill. A subject line as simple as “Vote YES on HB649” or “Please support HB649” will suffice. If you are a constituent (you live in the rep’s district), include that in the subject!
Length. State up front that you support the bill. Again state you are a constituent if you are one. Your email does not need to be long or detailed. It just needs to get the point across—you want your rep to vote YES on HB649.
A personal story. However, if you have a personal story of how car inspections have negatively impacted your life—please do include that in your email! Our lawmakers need to know how badly these mandatory car inspections hurt their constituents!
BCC tip. If you want to contact the entire committee in one email, put all their addresses in the BCC line. When reps are emailed all at once, some can be hesitant to “reply all” due to concerns over holding an improper meeting under N.H.’s right-to-know law (RSA 91-A). BCCing all the reps at once avoids this.
Flyers
In the next few days, we’ll be hitting the streets with flyers asking ordinary folks to contact their reps and ask them to support HB649. If you’d like to help out, here (PDF) is the flyer we are distributing. It prints perfectly in black and white on 8½×11″ paper.
Flyering tips
Place these on cars parked on the street for maximum efficiency.
Fold the flyer in half with the top facing outward and place it on the windshield under the driver’s side wiper blade.
In particular, look for cars with expired or soon-to-expire inspection stickers. In the lower-income neighborhoods of our major cities, you will find plenty! This year’s stickers are red; next year’s are blue. Any red stickers with a 1, 2, or 3, or any other non-blue stickers, are fair game here. Note however, a few years ago red was used, so people who have been dodging the inspection scam for a long time could have a red sticker! The year is printed in smaller numbers at the bottom of the sticker.
If you visit people’s homes, we recommend you place them in people’s front doors and not on their cars, so as to avoid any misunderstandings. Political “door-knocking” and “lit-dropping” are well-known campaign strategies during election seasons.
Don’t venture onto people’s private property if they have a “no trespassing” or “private property” sign, or something else that common sense tells you they want to be left alone. “No soliciting” signs technically only apply to salesmen and not political activists, whose campaigning is a First Amendment–protected activity, but again we recommend you don’t annoy people.
Why do we want to get rid of car inspections?
Very few states impose this on their citizens. Only a handful of states (
151311 at last count) require their motorists to deal with safety and emissions inspections. Many states have neither. States without inspections show no evidence of increased car accidents due to defective equipment on vehicles. In the last decade, several states have even eliminated their inspections—and they have shown no decrease in road safety as a result.Car inspections are a regressive tax. You pay the same fee for an inspection ($40–50) whether you drive a Corolla or a Corvette. Older cars are more likely to fail inspections, and these motorists are the least likely to be able to afford the inspection and the resulting repair bills.
An opportunity for fraud and abuse. Who doesn’t have a story of a crooked mechanic holding your car hostage on bogus repair claims? Who hasn’t been forced to do expensive repairs because the only alternative was driving with an expired sticker?
Arbitrary, capricious, and unjust. Car inspections are conducted by private mechanics. There are standards they are expected to follow (Saf-C 3200), but no two mechanics interpret the rules the same. Once you take your car in for inspection, you are completely at the mercy of that mechanic’s opinion. There is no right to get a “second opinion” if you don’t trust him. There is no legal appeals process if a mechanic refuses to pass your car.
No evidence justifies it. There is no evidence that safety inspections correlate with increased motorist safety, with insurance prices, or anything else meaningful. Insurance rates for example correlate more with state regulatory burden and crime rates. And crash rates correlate with things like DUIs, not vehicle equipment issues. Rep. Tom Mannion is compiling a nice spreadsheet regarding this.
Even experts say it’s time for it to go
Here (PDF) is some excellent testimony from Brian Chase, a retired N.H. State Police sergeant and expert in accident investigation and reconstruction. Some highlights—
“My professional career of thousands of forensic vehicle inspections has revealed no more than four vehicles which realized component failure—all of which were registered in states mandating a safety inspection program.”
“There currently exist merely eleven (11) states in the United States which mandate annual vehicle inspections, with New Hampshire being one of the most stringent.”
“State motor vehicle safety inspection programs have no effect on highway safety and serve solely as a profit means to inspection stations/auto dealers who demand repairs that are unnecessary.”
“Although inspection station/dealer owners and representatives fight to ensure remarkable income from state inspections, the fact is that statistically state safety inspection programs play no role in reducing fatal crashes.”
“There is no EPA mandate for the state of New Hampshire for the emissions program in place.”
“Inspection and Emissions programs are costly, inefficient, inaccurate, and financially detrimental to New Hampshire motorists—especially those low income and elderly residents.”
Media coverage
Government, industry lobby Senate after House vote to end annual vehicle inspections. Kevin Landrigan, Union Leader, 2025-04-01.
Senate committee hears testimony on bill to eliminate motor vehicle inspections. Adam Sexton, WMUR, 2025-04-01.
Kevin Landrigan on X: “State Police, auto dealers, tow shops, insurers, environmental and motor vehicle state staffers turn out to oppose House-passed bill to repeal annual safety inspections for car and truck owners (HB 649).” 2025-04-01.
Fool’s gold on four wheels: Why NH must scrap vehicle inspections. Brian Labrie, NH Journal, 2025-03-30.
Should Vermont drop annual car inspections? Cam Smith, WCAX, 2025-03-28.
When is your car inspection due? Maybe never. David Brooks, Concord Monitor, 2025-03-18.
Ending mandatory vehicle inspections would save Granite Staters tens of millions a year. Andrew Cline, Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, 2025-03-07.
Should New Hampshire continue to require annual vehicle inspections? Union Leader poll, 2025-03-06. As of 2025-04-01, the results are 65.2% in favor of eliminating them!
Enemies of both sticker tax freedom and 91-A. Julie Smith, Granite Grok, 2025-03-07.
New Hampshire House passes bill to eliminate motor vehicle safety inspections. Marissa Barrett, WMUR, 2025-03-06.
Adam Sexton on X: “The @NHHouseofReps sends a message, voting 212-143 to eliminate vehicle inspections. Deputy Speaker Steven Smith: ‘I’ve tried to work with the industry and they have stopped us at every single turn, and I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.’” 2025-03-06.
This mechanic supports HB 649 to end vehicle inspections. Neil Trindade, Laconia Daily Sun, 2025-03-04.
The Soapbox: End NH vehicle inspections. Derek Proulx, Manchester Ink Link, 2025-03-02.
Former NH state police official: Annual vehicle inspections are unnecessary, profit-driven. Rick Greene, NHPR, 2025-02-21.
New Hampshire bill would eliminate safety inspections for passenger vehicles. Ross Ketschke, WMUR, 2025-02-14.
Eliminate vehicle inspections in NH. Rep. John Sellers, Granite Grok, 2025-02-10. ▰