A Republican-backed bill to end vehicle emissions testing in 29 North Carolina counties is headed to the state Senate after prevailing in the House.

“Why would you want to remove a program that worked,” said Rep. Verla Insko. “It sounds a little bit, to me, like a person who is a hundred pounds overweight who goes on a diet, and reaches their goal, and says, ‘Oh, now I’ve reached my goal, I can go off my diet.’”

Insko, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, represents District 56 in the North Carolina House of Representatives, where she’s a member of the Environmental Committee.

She said she’s disappointed that Republican House members bypassed the committee to rush HB 169 to the Senate.

“The bill came right to the floor from Finance,” said Insko. “The Finance Committees only deal with the fiscal issues, and how it’s going to affect the state budget.

“The Finance Committees and the Appropriations Committees don’t deal with policy issues. And so, it came to the floor without fully having been vetted with regard to policy.”

That, she said, has become too common a practice lately.

“We’re increasingly bringing bills to the floor, putting them on the calendar, without giving the public adequate notice,” said Insko.

Out of 48 counties where emissions-testing was required, Orange County will remain on that list. Orange has “non-attainment” status, which, under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, designates air quality is worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

“One of the reasons that Orange County has non-attainment is that cars are driving from Chatham, or Alamance, or Wake into Orange County,” said Insko. “We import a lot of workers for the hospital, and for the university system.”

Under HB169, Chatham would be relieved of emissions testing.

Proponents argue that newer automobile technology allows drivers to self-regulate emissions. Insko counters that, for one thing, there’s no research into how many rural drivers have access to that technology.

“I just think it’s not smart to just cross these counties off without having more information – scientific information about it,” said Insko.

Insko said the bill came out of Finance just as the Environmental Committee had met.

“Dr. Wesley Wallace from Chapel Hill talked about the emissions from idling trucks, and how damaging that is, and that we really have to be careful” said Insko. “We don’t need to reduce controls.”

Wallace teaches emergency medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill.

HB169 passed 72-35 on Tuesday, with only eight Democrats voting in favor, and one Republican voting against it.

In the absence of a finalized state budget, the legislature has lately prioritized other issues such as protecting monuments – including Confederate monuments –as well as relaxing regulations, and increasing criminal penalties for offenses such as driving without a license, and graffiti vandalism. Insko chalks that up to election-season politics.

On an optimistic note, she added that the House Appropriations Committee will meet next week to work through budget differences with the Senate. Insko noted that the Republican House budget has bipartisan support in that chamber.