HB26-1199 is currently in the legislature, and let me explain how this affects you. Currently in the state of Colorado, your vehicle’s emissions have to meet California standards even though you do not live in California. Though we all can agree we want clean air for all of us, meeting the California specifications further harms you, the resident of this beautiful state. Currently, 46 other states agree the EPA standards are good enough for a vehicle’s emissions system. This basically means the catalytic converter on your vehicle does its job in protecting the environment, according to EPA guidelines. This is not about Republicans or Democrats controlling the EPA. This has been the law way before President Donald Trump came into office and affected the EPA. 

Currently, if your catalytic converter gets stolen or fails, the new one has to be CARB compliant which stands for California Air Resources Board. The catalytic converter that is EPA compliant would cost $100, but the CARB-compliant catalytic converter costs more than $1,000 each.

The legislators and lobbyists in our state government can certainly afford such an expensive auto part. However, the average Coloradan cannot afford another big bill and burden. If you cannot pass emissions, you cannot get your vehicle registered. If you cannot get your vehicle registered and drive it anyway, then you are likely to get pulled over and get a ticket, which further burdens you with yet another costly bill.  

I agree the air quality and environment was bad in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. But, this is 2026 and we have gotten away from 99% of those vehicles that were causing those harms. Maybe one out of 100,000 vehicles currently on the roads are from those harmful years. The government has for once improved its citizens’ lives. Please let your representatives know how much such disastrous laws harm you. We are already burdened with so much debt and costly living expenses, we do not need another. 

Fatah Mir

Englewood

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