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“The
bureaucracy takes itself to be the ultimate
purpose of the state. ... For the bureaucrat, the
world is a mere object to be manipulated by
him.” –Karl Marx
Those
of you residing in Northern Virginia (NOVA) know
first hand the hassles of taking your car for an
emissions control inspection every two years. Not
only is the inspection a hassle, but the $28 fee
is a financial nuisance.
For
these reasons, I was excited to hear that Sen. Ken
Cuccinelli, R-Centreville, patroned a bill to
exempt vehicles four years old or less from the
emissions inspection program. Sen. Jay O’Brien,
R-Clifton, was the bill’s co-patron.
In
reality, the bill would only relieve new vehicle
owners from undergoing one emissions control
inspection, that is, the one due during the
vehicle’s second year of service. This bill
would not make a big difference, but even skipping
one of these inspection ordeals would be a welcome
relief for most car owners.
The
bill’s patrons presented comprehensive
statistics they had secured from gas station
owners. These statistics showed that new vehicles
rarely if ever fail an emission control inspection
within their first few years of operation.
Apparently,
most of our state Senators thought this to be a
reasonable proposal. The bill sailed through the
Senate on a 38 to 0 vote with one abstention. Sen.
Dick Sasslaw, D-Springfield, who reportedly owns
gas stations that benefit from these inspections,
invoked Senate Rule 36, which prohibits senators
from voting in matters where they have a personal
interest.
The
bill also sallied through the House of Delegates, approved overwhelmingly in a 97 to 1 vote.
However, an amendment was added that the
provisions of this act become effective upon
approval by the
federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in
connection with the state’s existing
emissions-reduction plan. The Senate subsequently
approved the amendment, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine
(D) signed the bill into law on April 5, 2006.
The
effective date of all bills enacted during the
legislative session usually falls on the July 1 of
the same year. Presumably, anyone owning a vehicle
less than four years old should not have to
undergo an emissions control inspection after July
1, 2006.
A
vehicle I own just happened to fall in this
category. I had purchased it new in 2004. Its
license plates had expired and it needed to be
renewed this month (August 2006). However, there
were no provisions on the Department of Motor
Vehicles website for exempting any cars less than
four years old from undergoing the required
bi-annual emissions control inspection.
To
speed things up, I went ahead and took the car in
for inspection, naively thinking that I would be
able to later seek a refund. With the inspection
certificate in hand, I was able to renew the
license plates. At the same time, I filed a
protest with the DMV as well with Gov. Kaine’s
office. I also wrote to my state representatives,
Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon, and Sen. Mark Herring,
D-Leesburg, as well as Sen. Cuccinelli, the
bill’s patron.
About
ten days after filing my complaint with Gov.
Kaine’s office, I got an automated e-mail
response. It acknowledged receipt of my complaint
and advised that the Governor enjoys hearing from
the citizens of our Commonwealth. The fact that it
took their servers ten days to generate a canned response
that could have gone out minutes after receiving
my complaint, apparently has not registered with
anyone in Gov. Kaine’s administration.
The
individuals I contacted in the General Assembly
advised me that they would check on the act’s
implementation. Of those, Sen. Herring was able to
get the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
to respond in writing regarding their
implementation plans.
Melissa
Porterfield,
Air & Waste Policy Manager, provided a
response which gives the unmistakable impression
that the bureaucrats at DEQ simply did not like
this legislation, because it upset their
applecart. To the astonishment of the bill’s
patron, Ms. Porterfield
advised that DEQ did not plan on implementing this
law at least until sometime in 2009, assuming the
EPA
approves their new implementation plan.
DEQ
explained that its implementation plan is
developed in conjunction with the Maryland and
Washington, D.C. environmental agencies. What Ms.
Porterfield conveniently omits is that even though
Marylanders breathe the same air we breathe in
NOVA, they drive their cars without any inspection
requirements, as imposed on Virginians by an
out-of-control bureaucracy.
Some
two weeks after my initial contact, I also
received a response from the DMV. The department
advised me by e-mail that implementation of this
act rests with the DEQ. But more importantly, it
let me know that the DMV does not issue
refunds.
Evidently, no matter what bills get
enacted into law by our elected representatives,
the state bureaucrats play to the tune of their
own drummer. Agencies like the DEQ have obviously
learned well from the teachings of Karl Marx. So
much for representative government in
Virginia—our founding fathers must be turning in
their graves!
--
August 28, 2006
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