What you need to know about the new car-inspection law

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Only a handful of new Texas laws went into effect on January 1 – and even fewer that directly impact The Woodlands area – but one that stands out the most is the removal of mandatory inspections for automobiles as part of the vehicle registration process.

While word on the street is that – as of yesterday – you’ll no longer have to get your car inspected at all as part of your annual re-registration process, it’s not quite as black and white as that, thanks to House Bill 3297, authored by Representative Cody Harris of Palestine.

Certain counties will still enforce an emissions test, and both Montgomery and Harris Counties are on this list, so effectively all residents of The Woodlands area are subject to it. What this means is, every year when it comes time to register your auto (again) with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, beforehand you must take your car to an authorized facility for a test of its emissions. Passing this test is required to register your vehicle.

The good news is, no longer do you have to have headlights, brakes, tire treads, horns, and more checked as part of an annual inspection; however, it is still illegal to drive with things like blown-out headlights and broken taillights, silent horns, and nonexistent treads, so you’ll still need to keep these issues maintained; it’s simply that they’re no longer part of the annual requirement for registration.

Drivers can expect to pay $18.50 at their local inspection station for the emissions testing. Electric vehicles are exempt from the emissions inspection; commercial vehicles also need to complete safety testings to remain street legal. Drivers can also expect to pay a $7.50 ‘inspection program replacement fee’ each year; purchasing a new vehicle will force you to pay a $16.75 fee to cover two years.

The other state laws that went into effect as of January 1 that have bearing on Woodlands-area residents include:

• The Property Tax Relief Act, which expanded homestead exemptions from $40,000 to $100,000 and added protections for senior homeowners. While most of this act already went into effect in 2024, one thing that went into effect on January 1 was a ‘tax circuit breaker’ that prevents increases to a homeowner’s appraised property value beyond a certain percentage of the homeowner’s income and resulting ability to pay.
• The Texas Data Privacy And Security Act, which introduced numerous regulations and protections for Texas residents wishing to opt out of online issues such as targeted advertising. Again, a majority of this law took effect last year, but one new section that went active January 1 allows for Texans to designate someone who may officially make data privacy-related decisions on behalf of another party.

Texas laws that went into effect that don’t directly concern residents of The Woodlands include changes to the San Antonio River Authority's governance, the establishment of the 477th Judicial District encompassing Denton County, and a revision of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure that predominantly clarifies certain provisions in an effort to improve readability and accessibility.