Gov. Kelly Ayotte and her allies in the New Hampshire House narrowly avoided a legislative car wreck Thursday, thanks in part to legislation ending vehicle inspections.
Mandatory annual car inspections are unpopular with many New Hampshire voters. Current state law requires all registered vehicles to be reinspected every year, no later than 10 days after the end of the owner’s birth month. Granite Staters whose car or truck has failed inspection due to a faulty check engine light or even a cracked rear view mirror will no longer face those hassles, thanks to the passage of HB2.
Sometimes referred to as the budget “rider,” HB2 is the legislative vehicle for policy initiatives included in the biannual spending package. Both the primary budget (HB1) and the rider passed the Senate in a party-line vote Thursday before coming to the House. House leadership knew they had very narrow margins to work with to get it passed in their chamber, and when HB2 came up for a vote, they played the vehicle inspection card.
“HB2 contains so many of our hard-fought ‘wons’ with those on the other side of the wall,” House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) told his caucus, a reference to the state Senate.
“When I’m in the barber shop or the grocery store, they’re not asking me about all of the things that are in HB2, like elevator weights and measures and Medicaid reimbursement rates. The one thing they ask me about is, ‘When are you going to repeal those car inspections?’ And that’s what we’re doing today,” Osborne said.
HB2 passed by a single vote, 184-183.
One of those votes came from Liberty Caucus Republican Rep. Sam Farrington (R-Rochester), who was conflicted over the budget dealmaking. His final conclusion: “I am a YES on the budget. We didn’t get the spending cuts that I hoped for, but we will be ending the inspection sticker scam.”
He wasn’t the only one. Liberty Caucus members objected to the millions allocated to Group II pension recipients, stating, “Almost none of our constituents are fortunate enough to retire in their 40s with a pension,” and opposed the overall spending level.
But, caucus chair Rep. Michael Granger (R-Milton Mills) wrote, “The budget contains provisions that meet the requirements that we made before the Committee of Conference. It repeals auto inspections, which will positively affect the finances of everyone in this state who drives a motor vehicle.”
“Total repeal was absolutely a condition for passing the budget,” Farrington told NHJournal.
And the Committee to Elect House Republicans included the inspections repeal in a social media post listing “Promises made. Promises kept.”
The vehicle inspections issue was one reason that, as the budget battle raged between Ayotte and state Senate President Sharon Carson, Osborne remained optimistic. While some political professionals were declaring the budget deal DOA, Osborne posted on social media, “Never stop running plays until the clock runs out.”
His words appeared prescient Thursday when all three pieces of legislation needed to pass the entire budget deal made it to Ayotte’s desk.
“Been through enough this week to know the game ain’t over until the whistle blows,” Osborne posted after Thursday’s vote.