Pinal County's rapid growth over the last few years could mean an added cost and chore for most of the county's drivers.
A bill working its way through the Legislature would require motorists in the western half of Pinal County to have their cars pass regular emissions tests.
That area includes Casa Grande, Coolidge, Eloy, Florence and Maricopa, and it extends down to the unincorporated community of Red Rock just north of the Pima-Pinal county line.
Vehicles registered to drivers in the eastern half of the county, including those living in Mammoth, Oracle, SaddleBrooke and San Manuel, would not be included in the emissions-testing area.
"They're getting bigger; they're not getting smaller," state Rep. Ray Barnes, R-Phoenix, said of Pinal County. Barnes introduced HB 2427.
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"They're contributing to some of the air problems in Maricopa County. They're getting like Maricopa County, so they'll have to be treated like Maricopa County."
In Arizona, cars registered only in Pima and Maricopa counties are now required to go through emissions testing.
Rep. Pete Rios, D-Hayden, said Pinal doesn't need emissions testing because its vehicles aren't harming the state's air quality.
"We have a dust problem in Pinal County; anyone who's driven on I-10 can see that," Rios said. "But we really don't have the air-pollution problem in respect to emissions coming out of the tailpipe. So my question is: Why would we want to force those vehicles to be emission-tested when it does nothing to control the dust problem?"
Under the proposal, Pinal vehicles that require emissions testing would have to pass the same tests that vehicles in Maricopa County undergo once they are more than five years old.
