To the Members of the Connecticut General Assembly and the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles:

We, the undersigned Connecticut emissions test center owners and operators, request an update to the state’s vehicle emissions inspection fee.

The motorist fee is currently $20 per test. That same $20 fee was documented in Connecticut legislative materials in 1996. In the decades since, the costs of staffing, operating, and maintaining a test center have risen substantially.

An emissions inspection involves more than connecting equipment to a vehicle. Test centers must make space and trained personnel available, receive and move vehicles, perform the required inspection, process results and payments, provide customers with their reports, answer questions, and maintain compliance with program requirements. When a vehicle fails, the station must also handle the customer’s questions and may perform a required free retest.

We ask the General Assembly to:

Raise the statutory maximum inspection fee from $20 to $35 per test, with the final fee set through the appropriate state process.
Review and increase the amount paid to participating test centers so that a fee increase meaningfully supports the businesses performing the inspections.
Establish a regular fee review, taking into account labor, operating costs, program requirements, and the need to maintain convenient testing locations across Connecticut.
We support a dependable emissions testing program. For that program to remain accessible to motorists, the independent businesses that provide testing need compensation that reflects the work and costs involved.

We ask the General Assembly and the Department of Motor Vehicles to meet with participating test centers and act on this request.