An Act to amend and reenact § 46.2-1166 of the Code of Virginia, relating to motor vehicle safety inspections; safety inspectors.
HB1145 amends Virginia’s motor vehicle safety inspection law governing the minimum standards for official inspection stations. The bill updates the qualifications language for the person performing inspections, replacing older references to a mechanic with a requirement that the inspector be certified as a safety inspector by the Superintendent of State Police. It also clarifies that the Superintendent may still waive the experience and training requirements for motorcycle and trailer inspections when the person is otherwise qualified.
The bill also preserves the existing requirements for inspection stations to have adequate equipment, approved inspectors, and garage liability insurance, while keeping the exception for stations that inspect only company-owned, leased, or government-owned vehicles. In addition, it confirms that inspection stations may choose to accept vehicles on a first-come, first-served basis or by scheduled appointment for safety inspections.
The bill makes a targeted change to § 46.2-1166 of the Code of Virginia by modernizing the inspector-qualification language and reinforcing the role of State Police certification in the inspection-station approval process. It does not broadly alter the safety inspection program, but it affects inspection stations, safety inspectors, and the Department of State Police by aligning statutory language with current certification practices and preserving existing operational and insurance requirements.
The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded vote controversy, and the bill was enacted as Chapter 743. The absence of recorded opposition suggests the measure was generally noncontroversial and likely viewed as a technical or administrative update to existing inspection-station rules rather than a substantive policy change.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. The only potentially notable policy issue is the continued requirement that inspection stations maintain at least $500,000 in garage liability insurance, though the bill leaves that standard unchanged. The waiver authority for motorcycle and trailer inspections also remains intact, indicating no visible dispute over inspector flexibility or certification standards in the available record.