Senate Stop Vehicle Inspection Reform Despite Public Support and Bipartisan House Backing

CONCORD, N.H. — A high-profile push to overhaul New Hampshire’s mandatory vehicle inspection system hit a wall Thursday in the State Senate, despite bipartisan support in the House and overwhelming public testimony favoring reform.

House Bill 649-FN, which aimed to eliminate the requirement for annual safety and emissions inspections on private passenger vehicles, passed the House by a wide margin in March, 212–143, with strong Republican backing and 29 Democrats joining in support. The public response was also lopsided: 207 individuals signed in favor of the bill during the House hearing, with just 72 opposed.

But after a series of contentious Senate hearings and internal disagreements, the Commerce Committee issued a split 3–3 vote with no recommendation. When the bill reached the floor, rather than move forward with a compromise amendment, senators voted 19–3 to rerefer it back to committee, effectively halting the legislation for this session.

Ricciardi Defends Her Vote

Sen. Denise Ricciardi (R-Bedford), a member of the Commerce Committee, defended the decision in a public Facebook post, stating the vote to rerefer was necessary after three colleagues withdrew support for a compromise at the last moment.

“I didn’t vote with the Democrats. They voted with me because I was voting the right way,” Ricciardi wrote. She explained that a floor amendment would have advanced a modified version of the bill, with further adjustments possible in the Senate Finance Committee. “We could’ve had a version pass today that we could’ve continued to work on,” she said.

Public Testimony Favored Reform

The bill’s House and Senate hearings featured extensive public testimony in favor of reform, often focused on real-life frustrations with the state’s inspection regime. Vehicle owners, mechanics, and small business owners described the process as inconsistent, overly burdensome, and often expensive.

Neil Trindade, a mechanic and owner of Neil’s Laconia Garage, testified that in his 30 years in the business, the program had become “self-defeating.” He noted that modern vehicles contain complex overlapping systems, and a single error code—often unrelated to safety or emissions—can trigger a failed inspection.

“Time, technology, and bureaucracy have made this program unmanageable, unnecessary, and an unjustifiable burden,” Trindade said.

Other testifiers described being charged thousands of dollars for repairs that were either unnecessary or not directly tied to vehicle safety. One woman said a dealership quoted her $2,000 to replace a windshield after her rearview mirror fell off due to a software glitch. Another described how her neighbor had to tap into his retirement account to pay for a truck inspection, only to be given a temporary sticker because of a dashboard light no mechanic could diagnose.

Several testifiers emphasized that inspections disproportionately affect lower-income Granite Staters, who may face losing transportation—and therefore employment—over technicalities or minor cosmetic issues.

Opponents Cite Safety, Legal, and Environmental Risks

Despite the support, the bill drew firm opposition from law enforcement, environmental regulators, and the automotive industry.

The New Hampshire State Police warned that removing the inspection mandate would shift responsibility for identifying unsafe vehicles onto troopers, who lack the equipment or bandwidth to fill that role. The Department of Environmental Services cautioned that repealing emissions testing could violate federal Clean Air Act requirements and risk future lawsuits or loss of highway funding.

DMV officials testified that more than 13% of vehicles failed initial inspections in 2024—a statistic they argued supports the program’s relevance in identifying mechanical defects that could otherwise go unaddressed.

A Path Forward?

Though stalled, HB 649-FN could return in a future session. Several lawmakers had proposed compromise amendments, including reducing inspection frequency to every two years and exempting newer vehicles from inspections entirely.

For now, however, New Hampshire remains among a shrinking group of states that continue to mandate annual inspections for all private passenger vehicles.

“This effort isn’t dead—it’s delayed,” said one House lawmaker involved in the bill’s drafting. “We had a strong vote in the House, and the people of New Hampshire clearly want relief. We’ll be back.”