AUGUSTA (AP) – A proposal before the Legislature to make vehicle inspection stickers good for two years instead of one is setting the stage for a debate that pits safety concerns against convenience and cost.

Maine is among 30 states that require regularly scheduled safety inspections for motor vehicles. A list compiled by AAA and distributed by the National Conference of State Legislatures does not specify how often vehicles have to be inspected in the states that mandate safety checks.

“Most of those are one-year programs” like Maine’s, said Lt. Christopher Grotton, who heads the traffic division of the Maine State Police. “But now, we are seeing some states go to two years.”

Maine has had annual inspections since 1982, when it abandoned six-month inspections. Service stations, dealerships and auto parts stores can charge as much as $12.50 per inspection in 15 of the state’s 16 counties, and as much as $18.50 in Cumberland County, where a mandatory emissions test is included.

The Legislature’s Transportation Committee has yet to schedule a hearing on the proposed shift to two-year inspections, but members say the outcome is hard to predict and the proposal will be getting a serious examination.

“I think it’s worth a discussion,” said Rep. Boyd Marley, D-Portland, who co-chairs the committee. Marley said he leans toward opposing the bill for safety reasons, but is open to being convinced that biennial inspections would not compromise safety.

Rep. Bryan Kaenrath, D-South Portland, who introduced the bill, said he opposes eliminating inspections because “there’s a need for it” to protect the public, but annual inspections “might be overkill.”

“From the people I’ve talked to, everyone says it’s a great idea,” Kaenrath said.

Under the bill, commercial vehicles, trailers and semitrailers would remain on a yearly schedule, but other vehicles would get biennial stickers.

State police have yet to take a position on the bill, Grotton said, but they “generally have opposed bills that potentially have a negative safety impact,” and this one may fall into that category.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that some Maine inspection stations flunk more than 20 percent of the cars and trucks they inspect, Grotton said, which indicates that there are plenty of vehicles with problems that need fixing sooner rather than later.

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