Department of Environmental Quality - Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program

In 1976, the Legislature established the Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program (Program) in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas to reduce emissions and improve air quality. The Program is a centralized vehicle emissions testing service provided by an independent contractor under the direction of the Department of Environmental Quality (Department). The Program has a good overall vehicle emissions quality control and monitoring framework. However, several activities are performed more frequently than required by the federal government or than best practices would recommend. The Department should evaluate whether it can reduce some of these activities and should redirect some resources to address other aspects of the monitoring process, including followup on identified problems.