House Bill 2305 was passed by the Texas Legislation on June 14, 2013 and went into effect on March 1, 2015. The bill did away with the familiar inspection sticker most Texas drivers were accustomed to receiving when we had our cars and trucks inspected each year. The goal, starting March 1st of last year was to combine the inspection sticker with our vehicle registration sticker.
The reason for the change to, “Two Steps, One Sticker” (an incredibly catchy slogan), is it saves the state about $2 million in printing the second sticker each year. Texas legislators also believe having one sticker will be better aesthetically for drivers because it reduces clutter on our windshields, and will cause more Texans to get their vehicle inspected since it’s now a requirement to obtain a vehicle registration sticker.
How this worked for vehicle owners in 2015 was if the vehicle inspection was due in January or February, the owner would be issued an inspection sticker after having their vehicle inspected followed by a separate registration sticker when the vehicle’s registration was due. Anyone who’s vehicle was due to be inspected between March 1st and December 31st, would only be issued a registration sticker.
2016 is the second year for the transition from having two stickers to only one. Anyone who still has an inspection and a registration sticker, will need to have the inspection done within 90 days of when their registration sticker expires. For instance, if your registration sticker expires on August 31, the inspection will need to be conducted between June 1st and August 31st and will continue to do so in the years to come. If your vehicle went through the transition last year, then remember to have your vehicle(s) inspected within 90 days prior to your registration.
Once a vehicle is inspected it will be recorded in a state-wide database that it either passed or failed the inspection. As long as it passed inspection, vehicle owners will be permitted to obtain a registration sticker. I still recommend vehicle owners have their inspection report with them when they go to get their vehicle registered. This is especially true for anyone who waits to have your vehicle inspected the day their registration is due.
I expect there to be less confusion this year than when this transition began last year since most car and truck owners began the transition last year. For more information on the transition, check out http://twostepsonesticker.com/.
