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    Inspection News

    What to know about the new emission inspection to register your car in Texas

    Teresa Gubbins
    Dec 20, 2024 | 9:00 am
    Texas inspection sticker

    Inspections are no longer required to renew registration.

    Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

    Beginning January 1, 2025, Texas vehicle owners will no longer need to obtain a safety inspection prior to vehicle registration. House Bill 3297, passed during the 88th Legislature in 2023, eliminates the safety inspection program for non-commercial vehicles.

    We'll all be free, free, free of the oppression of the safety inspection process. However …

    Under the new law, the $7.50 fee that drivers had to pay as a safety inspection fee has not gone away. It now appears on your registration notice under a new name: "Inspection Program Replacement Fee."

    This name change comes courtesy of the legislature, who want to keep collecting this fee because the funds go to state programs such as construction and expansion of state highways — funds they previously collected from the Safety Inspection Fee.

    And while the safety inspection is gone, state law will still require that drivers in 17 counties must pass an " emission inspection" on vehicles that are 2 to 24 years old, in order to get your vehicle registered.

    But what does an "emissions inspection" mean?

    The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) details the following changes:

    Safety inspection out, emissions testing in
    Until December 31, 2024, safety inspections are required for vehicle registration in all 254 counties. Beginning January 1, 2025, noncommercial vehicles in Texas will no longer be required to have an annual safety inspection. Instead, vehicles will have to get an emissions inspection on gasoline-powered vehicles that are 2 to 24 years old.

    What is no longer going to be "inspected"?
    Texas Transportation Code §548.051 specifies the list of old-school inspection items which will no longer be checked. Moving forward, they will no longer be checking: tires, wheel assembly, safety guards, safety flaps, brakes, steering, lighting, horns, mirrors, windshield wipers, sunscreening devices, and front seat belts in vehicles on which seat belt anchorages were part of the manufacturer's original equipment.

    What will still be inspected are listed as "Items 12–15": exhaust system, exhaust emissions system, fuel tank cap, and emissions control equipment. These will be part of the emissions inspection process in 17 counties.

    Those 17 counties where this is relevant include:

    • DFW: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant
    • Houston: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, and Montgomery
    • Austin: Travis and Williamson
    • El Paso County

    Beginning on November 1, 2026, emissions inspections will be required for vehicles registered in Bexar County.

    Where will emissions inspections be obtained?
    Emissions inspections can be obtained at DPS-certified vehicle inspection stations in the 17 emissions counties. These will be the exact same inspection locations we've been going to all along, when it was called a safety inspection. Emissions inspections are not available in the other 237 Texas counties.

    DPS offers an inspection station locator online.

    What is the estimated cost of an emissions inspection?
    Vehicle owners will pay an emissions inspection fee of $2.50 annually to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) at the time of registration. The actual fee you'll pay at the inspection station (as listed on TCEQ’s website) will be $25.50. Just like the former "safety inspection" fee.

    In short: There is little that's changing about the entire inspection process, except they won't bother making you honk your horn.

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    SUDDEN SHUTTERS

    GameStop to close 11 Houston-area stores amid nationwide cuts

    Brandon Watson
    Jan 26, 2026 | 4:30 pm
    GameStop
    GameStop/ Facebook
    Long lines for video game releases are a rarity these days.

    For GameStop, it’s a blood bath right out of Mortal Kombat. The Grapevine-based video game chain is expected to shed 470 locations nationwide, including 11 in the greater Houston area.

    The closures were revealed in the company's newest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that said it would close "a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025" ending on January 31. In its last fiscal year, GameStop shuttered 590 locations.

    In addition to braving the overall “retail apocalypse,” the retailer faces the same conditions that largely decimated CD and video stores. Video games are now available for digital download in seconds and no longer require a trip to a physical store.

    “As a part of our profitability initiative, we are reducing our global store base, which includes closing stores that are not meeting performance standards or stores at the end of their lease terms with the intent of transferring sales to other nearby locations,” the company wrote in its annual report. “ If we are unsuccessful in marketing to customers of the stores that we plan to close or in transferring sales to nearby stores, our results of operations could be negatively impacted.”

    The current digital squeeze isn’t the first time GameStop has been thrown for a loop by contemporary internet culture. In 2021, the retailer famously became a meme stock, buoyed by users of Reddit's r/wallstreetbets. The skyrocketing increase in its stock price, followed by short selling, caused major financial consequences for hedge funds and other investors.

    Since then, the stock price has been more stable but has decreased approximately 21 percent over the last year. After CEO Ryan Cohen bought 500,000 shares in the company on January 21, the price has slightly rebounded.

    GameStop has not issued a formal list of the closures, and a request for more information was not returned at press time. But Ohio’s WKYC Studios put together a list of all the U.S. stores that are on the chopping block, verified through GameStop’s online store locator. The Texas closings are as follows:

    • Allen – The Village at Allen, 170 E. Stacy Rd
    • Arlington – Little School Road Shops, 1245 N. Little School Rd
    • Austin – Ben White Payload Center, 500 E. Ben White Blvd
    • Balch Springs – Lake June Plaza, 12209 Lake June Rd
    • Boerne – Menger Crossing, 1375 S. Main St
    • Cedar Park – Lakeline Plaza, 11066 Pecan Park Blvd
    • Conroe – Conroe Center, 1231 N. Loop 336 W
    • Corpus Christi – Padre Island Drive, 1805 S. Padre Island Dr
    • Corsicana – Corsicana Marketplace, 3811 W. Highway 31
    • Dallas – Glen Oaks Crossing, 4787 Vista Wood Blvd
    • El Paso – Alameda Town Center, 9411 Alameda Ave
    • El Paso – Fountains at Farah, 8889 Gateway West Blvd
    • Fort Worth – Clifford Retail, 301 Clifford Center Dr
    • Garland – Ridgewood Village, 2930 S. First St
    • Houston – Beechnut Street Houston, 10100 Beechnut St
    • Houston – Bellaire Gessner Center, 8880 Bellaire Blvd
    • Houston – Market at Uvalde, 13706 East Fwy
    • Houston – Market Square, 13341 Westheimer Rd
    • Houston – Oxford Plaza, 10407 North Fwy
    • Houston – Royal Oaks, 11807 Westheimer Rd
    • Houston – Wayside Shopping Center, 900 S. Wayside Dr
    • Huntsville – Ravenwood Village, 245 Interstate 45 N
    • Irving – MacArthur Park, 7601 N. MacArthur Blvd
    • Lake Jackson – Lake Jackson Shopping Center, 121 Highway 332 W
    • La Marque – LaMarque Crossing, 6408 Interstate 45
    • Laredo – Laredo Crossing Shopping Center, 4415 S. Zapata Hwy
    • Leon Valley – 5601 Bandera Rd
    • Lubbock – 7th St Lubbock, 1803 Seventh St
    • Magnolia – Westwood Village, 33020 FM 2978 Rd
    • Mansfield – Mansfield Crossing, 1301 E. Debbie Ln
    • Marble Falls – Highland Lakes, 2400 US Highway 281
    • McKinney – Lake Forest Crossing, 4100 S. Lake Forest Dr
    • Mesquite – Town East Mall, 2050 Town East Mall
    • Mission – Shary Plaza, 808 S. Shary Rd
    • Palmhurst – Palmhurst Shopping Center, 4416 N. Conway Ave
    • Paris – Paris Corners, 3842 Lamar Ave
    • Saginaw – Cross Pointe Shopping Center, 1453 N. Saginaw Blvd
    • San Antonio – Alamo Quarry Market, E. 255 Basse Rd
    • San Antonio – Blanco Road, 7117 Blanco Rd
    • San Antonio – Huebner Oaks Center, 11745 W. I-10
    • San Antonio – Northwoods Phase III, 1742 N. Loop 1604 E
    • San Antonio – Walzem Plaza, 5366 Walzem Rd
    • Stephenville – Stephenville Shopping Center, 2811 W. Washington St
    • Sulphur Springs – Sulphur Springs Corners, 1707 S. Broadway St
    • Terrell – Terrell Corner, 1888 W. Moore Ave
    • Tyler – State Highway 64 Tyler, 3842 State Highway 64 W
    • Watauga – Watauga Town Crossing, 8004 Denton Hwy
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