The Mississippi Senate has approved a bill that would eliminate the annual 5-dollar inspection sticker currently required on all automobiles. Supporters of the bill say the stickers are outdated and broadly ignored.
The decades old stickers are intended to ensure that vehicles are safe to drive on Mississippi's rads.
Supporters of repealing the requirement say the stickers are now broadly despised, ignored and no longer serve a purpose.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Senator Giles Ward of Louisville says a check of the 88 cars in the Senate parking lot found even many legislators failed to have updated stickers.
"You will be interested to know that of the vehicles parked in those 88 parking spaces, there are 23 expired inspection stickers and two vehicles that don't have inspection stickers at all. That is a 28-percent non-compliance rate," Ward said.
Ten Senators voted against repealing the stickers citing concerns about the effect on public safety.
One of those ten was Senator Billy Hudson of Hattiesberg.
"This system is broken. It needs fixing. But I don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Mr. President this is a public safety issue. And if public officials are not concerned about public safety, what in the world should we be concerned about?" Hudson said.
The Department of Public Safety has previously said it loses money on the stickers.
The bill moves to the house for more debate.
