Barbaraok

Local and county governments get revenue sharing from state & federal based upon population. If most of mail service is stopped some Escapees employees will be laid off. It all has a ripple effect.

If 10,000 people move out ofLivingston it is a big deal to that town and poll County.

Guess what, our's (for the car) is due in March. Yes, I'll renew ahead of time (we will do the inspections this fall when in Texas) but that will be the last time we can do that. So it looks like next summer will be 'moving' time for us if something doesn't happen. Barb

And all of that will be meaningless next March 1st. That's what all the fuss is about. Barb

Blues, You're assuming that everyone with a Livingston address would transfer to Florida and stay with Escapees. Not necessarily so.

Safety inspections were first, then they added on emission inspections for those in non-attainment areas. Still the same with everyone getting a yearly inspection of some kind. If I'm a state representative from a district that requires emission testing do you think I'm going to vote for people in other counties not to have some sort of inspections when my constituents have to have their vehicles inspected? Really? Have you ever spent time watching the Texas legislative sessions? As to the rest of your post, it really doesn't matter. We have to deal with what is currently in place. And don't think there isn't a lobby of inspection station owners who make a good share of their living doing inspections. I know the amount per vehicle seems small, but some of these places do 10+ inspections per hour with min. wage workers, so it helps with the cash flows for these small businesses. Barb

Yes, there was one or more firm in Livingston that did nothing for inspections, I believe some state action was taken. We've had over the years to get horn fixed, get clearance lights fixed, new wiper blades, etc., nothing major (well the horn was expensive because of Smart Wheel involvement) but all needed to be done to pass inspection. Barb

"Driving forces" as in why they are currently done. Since MOST people live in metro areas, the inspections aren't going away so the inspections stay everywhere. Bush Pilot, I believe you will find that they have already done away with multi-year registrations. Dave W., you might declare it a crock, but that is the way things are. Most state representatives are from the big metro areas (where all the people live) so they aren't going to vote for only THEIR constituents have to get inspections. Barb

You need to understand that one of the driving forces for vehicle inspections in Texas is that the major metro areas are all non-attainment areas under the Clean Air Act. So a lot of vehicles require annual vehicle emission testing, since you are going to be inspecting them anyway, might as well include safety items and make those items state wide. So the inspections can't be eliminated. Barb

One of the things that has to be remembered is that Texas does not meet air emission standards for its major cities, which is why emissions testing has been instituted. So that part of the inspection system isn't going away. And the idea of having everyone get an inspection probably makes sense as far as DPS officers are concerned - everyone has a current inspection sticker, so they don't have to figure out who lives in a air emission problem county and who doesn't. Barb

Doesn't matter what we think about the law, it is there and it is to our benefit to offer some suggestions so that we don't have to make repeated trips back to Texas for inspections since the registration dates on the MH and car are 6 months apart. Otherwise we will be forced to "move" and we really don't want to do that if we can avoid it. Barb

Garages where inspections were done were subject to break-ins by persons looking for blank inspection stickers. So they lobbied for something to be done. IT vendors made the case to DMV/DPS individuals that one database could take care of everything. None of these groups thought about people who travel or businesses who have a large part of their mobile inventory out of state, were paying attention at the time to say that the 90-day before was an impracticable window for their groups. Instead of trying to give reasons why you think this is a stupid law, come up with some ways to make if function better. Has everyone sent in their ideas - like having a place on the online renewal form where you certify, under penalty of perjury, that you have not been in the state during the previous 90 days and can not get it inspected, but that you will have it inspected upon returning to Texas. Barb

Not renewing licenses, but when you get your new license (i.e. move into the state) the order that works the best is (1) inspection, (2) vehicle registration and then (3) driver's licenses. This was in Smith county. Barb

Escapees is a business NOT a club, period. And part of their presentation when we joined was they were at the forefront of being a voice for RVers and the lobbying they did in Texas to get the address recognized as a legal address. If that is part of your selling pitch and then you are not providing that service, you should expect to have people question how it slipped by. Barb

You have to admit they missed the boat on this one. They were not watching what was going on during the past legislative session - - isn't that part of the reason that we join Escapees, because they are suppose to be on top of issues affecting RVers and to lobby effectively for our interests? I think Kelly hit the nail on the head - no one was paying any attention and now they are trying to downplay what could be really serious effects for all of us. Think how much easier it would have been to be told about "Pending" legislation, organize a lobbying effort to point out a potential problem, and get something in place for those who would be out of state for continuous periods of time into the original law, rather than trying to cobble something together afterwards. Barb

From the Motor Vehicle Registration Manual: "A multi-year registration renewal option for 24 or 36 months was previously available for most vehicle types in IVTRS; however, in preparation for the combined registration and inspection sticker, online renewals are now only available for 12 month periods." Barb

Think you might want to check. This is from the Motor Vehicle Registration Manual: "A multi-year registration renewal option for 24 or 36 months was previously available for most vehicle types in IVTRS; however, in preparation for the combined registration and inspection sticker, online renewals are now only available for 12 month periods." Barb

But what good is that to those with Motorhomes and toads, often they have different registration dates. Barb

I'm glad you think that there is time between opening session of the legislature in January '15 and effective date of 3/1/15 - - but given the past history of the legislature and the fact that most bills don't get acted upon until late May or into June of the session, I don't share your optimism. Our car registration comes due in April of each year, so while we will have more time with the motorhome, not so with the car. Barb

Thanks for the information as you have a lot of concerned people who would be negatively impacted by this. Also I hope that before the next legislative session some way of monitoring what is being introduced that will effect Escapee members can be implemented. Imagine what Escapee members could have done in the way of emails, phone calls, etc. if we had been alerted when the bill was introduced. Barb

Linda, For those of us on Medicare, moving isn't the big problem it will be for people who need health insurance. Barb

I would agree except that it appears from the reply I got from Escapees office was that they didn't know about it. There was no handling behind the scenes that I can see and it appears that the state senator and state representative for the Polk county area also had no idea what was going on. Barb

Kirk, One of the selling points for Escapees has been that they are working to make sure RVers in Texas are treated fairly. I only found out about this through a link to the HDT section a couple of weeks ago - - I don't monitor legislative action in Texas during the legislative session. That is what Escapees headquarters should have been doing if they want to keep customers. I reported it to the office as soon as I found the link to the legislation, and they hadn't heard about it. Again, one of their selling points was that they were on top of things relative to RVers - clearly that is no longer true! Barb

The law was signed by the governor in June of 2013. Introduced some 2-3 months earlier. The email I received from Escapees headquarters on January 27th thanked me for bringing it to their attention. Obviously no one was monitoring last legislative session. Barb

My question is how did Escapees miss this so completely? Don't they monitor legislative action anymore - members have to do it for them? Barb