II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 248

To delay the required implementation date for enhanced vehicle inspection

and maintenance programs under the Clean Air Act and to require

the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to reissue

the regulations relating to the programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19 (legislative day, JANUARY 10), 1995

Mr. GREGG (for himself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. LOTT, Mr. GRAMM, Mr. NICKLES, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To delay the required implementation date for enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance programs under the

Clean Air Act and to require the Administrator of the

Environmental Protection Agency to reissue the regulations relating to the programs, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Auto Inspection

5 Reform (AIR) Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that, in carrying out

3 title I of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the

4 Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

5 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Administrator’’) has failed

6 to—

7 (1) adequately consider alternative programs to

8 centralized vehicle emission testing programs, as re9 quired by section 182(c)(3)(C)(vi) of the Clean Air

10 Act (42 U.S.C. 7511a(c)(3)(C)(vi)); and

11 (2) provide adequate credit to States for the

12 alternative programs.

13 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to require

14 the Administrator to—

15 (1) reassess the determinations of the Adminis16 trator with respect to the equivalency of centralized

17 and decentralized programs under section

18 182(c)(3)(C)(vi) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C.

19 7511a(c)(3)(C)(vi)); and

20 (2) issue new regulations governing the pro21 grams that—

22 (A) result in minimum disruption to the

23 ability of States to comply with other require24 ments of the Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); and

25 (B) provide States a reasonable oppor26 tunity to comply with the new regulations and
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1 implement any decentralized testing programs

2 that the States demonstrate are equally effec3 tive as centralized programs.

4 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF ENHANCED VEHICLE INSPEC5 TION PROGRAMS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi7 sion of law, a State shall not be required to implement

8 an enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program

9 under section 182(c)(3) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C.

10 7511a(c)(3)) prior to March 1, 1996.

11 (b) REASSESSMENT OF REGULATIONS.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall—

13 (A) immediately rescind the regulations is14 sued on November 5, 1992 (57 Fed. Reg.

15 52950), relating to operation of the program

16 described in subsection (a) on a centralized

17 basis; and

18 (B) during the period beginning on the

19 date of enactment of this Act and ending on

20 March 1, 1996—

21 (i) reassess the determinations made

22 by the Administrator with respect to oper23 ation of the program described in sub24 section (a) on a centralized basis, taking
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1 into consideration comments submitted by

2 States; and

3 (ii) issue new regulations relating to

4 operation of the program described in sub5 section (a) on a centralized basis, or, at

6 the option of each State, on any decentral7 ized basis if the State demonstrates that

8 such a decentralized program is equally ef9 fective as a centralized program.

10 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations issued

11 under paragraph (1)(B)(ii) shall—

12 (A) in accordance with the intent of sec13 tion 182(c)(3)(C)(vi) of the Clean Air Act (42

14 U.S.C. 7511a(c)(3)(C)(vi))—

15 (i) make reasonably available to

16 States the option of operation of the pro17 gram described in subsection (a) on any

18 decentralized basis if the State dem19 onstrates that such a decentralized pro20 gram is equally effective as a centralized

21 program; and

22 (ii) establish criteria that a State

23 must meet in order to demonstrate that a

24 decentralized program of the State is
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1 equally effective as a centralized program;

2 and

3 (B)(i) provide each State a reasonable op4 portunity to submit (at the option of the State)

5 a new revision to a plan under section 182(c)(3)

6 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 7511a(c)(3)) based on

7 the new regulations, which revision shall replace

8 any revision to a plan previously submitted by

9 the State under section 182(c)(3) of the Act;

10 and

11 (ii) include a schedule that provides States

12 a reasonable opportunity to implement any new

13 revisions to plans that the States submit.

14 (3) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Notwithstanding sec15 tion 706 of title 5, United States Code, or any other

16 provision of law, if the regulations issued pursuant

17 to paragraph (1)(B)(ii) are reviewed by a court, the

18 court shall hold unlawful and set aside the regula19 tions if the regulations are found to be unsupported

20 by a preponderance of the evidence.

21 (c) PROHIBITION ON IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—

22 Until such time as the Administrator has carried out sub23 section (b)(1)—

24 (1) the Administrator may not issue a finding,

25 disapproval, or determination under section 179(a)
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1 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7509(a)), or apply

2 a sanction specified in section 179(b) of the Act, to

3 a State with respect to a failure to implement a pro4 gram described in subsection (a), or any portion of

5 such a program; and

6 (2) the Administrator and the Administrator of

7 the Federal Highway Administration of the Depart8 ment of Transportation may not take any adverse

9 action, against a State with respect to a failure de10 scribed in paragraph (1), under—

11 (A) section 176 of the Clean Air Act (42

12 U.S.C. 7506);

13 (B) chapter 53 of title 49, United States

14 Code;

15 (C) subpart T of part 51, or subpart A of

16 part 93, of title 40, Code of Federal Regula17 tions (commonly known as the ‘‘transportation

18 conformity rule’’); or

19 (D) part 6, 51, or 93 of title 40, Code of

20 Federal Regulations (commonly known as the

21 ‘‘general conformity rule’’).

22 (d) FULL CREDIT FOR DECENTRALIZED PRO23 GRAMS.—Until such time as the Administrator has carried

24 out subsection (b)(1), for the purpose of the attainment

25 demonstration and the reasonable further progress dem-
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1 onstration required under section 182(c)(2) of the Clean

2 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7511a(c)(2)), the Administrator

3 shall—

4 (1) deem that the emission reductions cal5 culated by States for inspection and maintenance

6 under their State implementation plans would be

7 achieved as if the planned program had been imple8 mented; or

9 (2) if appropriate, consider the operation of the

10 program described in subsection (a) on a decentral11 ized basis as equivalent to the operation of the pro12 gram on a centralized basis in any case in which a

13 State demonstrates that a determination of such an

14 equivalency is reasonable.

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