NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1180

SENATE BILL 985

 

 

AN ACT TO IMPLEMENT THE CLEAN AIR ACT OF 1970 AS AMENDED BY THE CLEAN AIR ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1977.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 20-39 is amended by adding a new subsection (e) to read:

"(e)       The Commissioner is authorized to cooperate with and provide assistance to the Environmental Management Commission, or appropriate local government officials, and to develop, adopt, and ensure enforcement of necessary rules and regulations, regarding programs of motor vehicle emissions inspection/maintenance required for areas in which ambient air pollutant concentrations exceed National Ambient Air Quality Standards."

Sec. 2.  Chapter 20 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 20-128.2.  Motor vehicle emission standards. — (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 when the Environmental Management Commission certifies to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles that the ambient air quality within a specified county requires a motor vehicle inspection/maintenance program; provided the Environmental Management Commission may prescribe different standards for different areas as may be necessary and appropriate to facilitate accomplishment of 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).

(b)        Rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this section shall be implemented through the use of the safety inspection stations licensed pursuant to Article 3A of Chapter 20 of the General Statutes."

Sec. 3.  G.S. 20-183.3 is amended by designating the existing section subsection (a), and adding a new subsection to read:

"(b)      When required pursuant to G.S. 20-128.2, and as a condition for approval certificate issuance under subsection (a) of this section, exhaust emissions shall be inspected and shall comply with those standards established pursuant to G.S. 20-128.2 on gasoline-powered vehicles manufactured within the previous 12 years which shall include 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."

Sec. 4.  G.S. 20-183.8 is amended by deleting the word "safety" in line 2 of the caption of said section, and further by deleting the word "safety" in line 2 and in line 5 of subsection (d).

Sec. 5.  G.S. 20-183.7(a) is amended on line 3, by deleting the words "the inspection", and inserting in lieu thereof the words, "the safety inspection"; and is further amended by adding a new subsection to be designated subsection (a1) to read:

"(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 three dollars and sixty-five cents ($3.65), nor more than ten dollars ($10.00), 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 vehicle is approved, the inspection station shall obtain a fee of not less than thirty-five cents (35˘) nor more than two dollars ($2.00) 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.

The amount of the fees under this subsection shall be set by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles."

Sec. 6.  G.S. 20-183.7(c) is rewritten to read:

"(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.         The thirty-five cent (35˘) fee collected pursuant to (a) shall be transferred to the Highway Fund.

2.         The fee of not less than thirty-five cents (35˘) nor more than two dollars ($2.00) collected pursuant to (a1) shall be transferred as follows: the first thirty-five cents (35˘) to the Division of Environmental Management, and any excess up to one dollar and sixty-five cents ($1.65) to the Highway Fund."

Sec. 7.  During the 1980-81 fiscal year the actual and necessary expenses of conducting the program authorized by this act shall be paid from the Contingency and Emergency Fund.

Sec. 7.1.  If any provision of this act or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are declared to be severable.

Sec. 8.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1980.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 23rd day of June, 1980.