Virginia Emissions Regulations Legislative Efforts January 2024
Governor Youngkin and the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates have been on a collision course over emissions testing regulations. The governors position is that climate issues aside, Virginia should not be binding it's legistlative actions to those of another state. The Democrats charge that Gov. Youngkin is attempting to rollback progress on climate control yielding to the will of the gas, oil and automotive lobby.
The current efforts by the Governor were defeated on Tuesday January 30, 2024, when the House Bill 1378 was defeated in the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee on party lines. The bill will therefore never get the floor of the House of Delegates, leaving the effort in a similar place as seven previous bills also defeated by the Democrat majority.
"While Governor Youngkin and his allies are busy attacking climate action and driving clean transportation jobs away to other states, Senate Democrats are standing up for our clean air, working to cut harmful tailpipe emissions, and bringing in-demand electric vehicles and economic investment to the Commonwealth", Michael Town of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters stated.
Gov. Youngkin has long vowed to undo Virginia's current emission standards, on the basis that they allow another state to set the policy for Virginia.
"We cannot afford to be California. I've already said we are going to unhook ourselves from the 100% electric vehicle mandate," stated Gov. Youngkin.
However, the Governor has been roundly unsuccessful at executing that plan. The Democrats have not only defeated legisation that would move Gov. Youngkin's agenda forward, but also defeated bills that would have withdrawn Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and killed the nomination of Andrew Wheeler a former Trump Administration EPA official, to the post of secretary of natural resources.
Virginia is not the only state to tie it's fortunes to that of California. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersy, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington all have agreed to follow California's lead. Virginia voters did not give Youngkin the Republican majority he needed to see his plans enacted. As such it appears that Virginian's agree with the Democrats on climate issues and the efforts to combat it via vehicle electrification.
California is set to require all new vehicle sales to be electric past 2035. The sales of used vehicles would not be affected, nor would owners of non-electric vehicles be required to purchase electric vehicles. With the charging issues with electric vehicles currently in the news, and the slowdown of electic vehicle sales, it appears to be an open question as to whether the charging infrastructure will be in place to meet that goal. It is also unclear as to whether the average consumer will be willing to deal with the inconveniences caused by the absense of reliable charging stations and the differences between filling up a gasoline vehicle and charging an electric one. Bottom line, it doesn't take 10 minutes to fill up an electric vehicle to full. Electric vehicles are vastly more efficient that combustion engines, but it is exactly that inefficiency that gives gas and diesel powered cars the waste heat they need to keep the vehicle passenger compartment toasty.
So Do I Need an Emission's Test
All this stuff aside, you might still be wondering if your vehicle needs an emissions test. The answer is... it depends. Like California, the specific requirements for your vehicle depends on where it is parked. If that area has a higher population density then an emissions check is required. That means that Northern Virginia counties and cities have Emissions requirements as they have higher density. Below is a list of counties that require emissions tests.
A convenient way to find a nearby emissions testing station is to use our https://virginiaemissionstest.com. You can enable geolocation and locate shops nearby, or enter a zip code and find shops within various mile ranges from that zip code. We hope you find it useful.