If your vehicle inspection sticker is not due for renewal until next year or beyond, don’t bother – you’ll never need to renew it again. A House bill to replace the inspection sticker with a QR code has passed the Senate and will soon be on the desk of the Governor, who has said he will sign it. The vote in the Senate was 27-7. Lafayette Democrat Gerald Boudreaux one of those voting “no”; he said owners of businesses that perform official state inspections expressed concerns about the effects on their operations.
“Several of the owners that have called me said, ‘If we’re not going to do inspections, we’re not going to need some of these employees that have been there,"” Boudreaux said.
Alexandria Democrat Jay Luneau said inspections are not a major source of revenue for these businesses.
“They receive $4.75 for their part of the inspection fee, and then they pay somebody out of that. This is not how they’re financing their business; this is not how they’re profitable or not,” Luneau said.
Boudreaux said no amount of modern technology can replace inspections to keep everyone on Louisiana roadways safe.
“Technology’s going to take over a lot of things, but there’s still going to be some vehicles on the road that shouldn’t be on the road,” Boudreaux noted.
Luneau said technology changes things; and by implementing the QR codes, the state is moving on to the next level.
“The last person who was the town crier didn’t like the fact that they lost their job, too. But you know what? We’re in a technology age. We don’t need town criers to go out and yell from the top of their lungs to tell people what the laws are and what events are going on,” Luneau explained.