Members of the Senate Commerce Committee devoted the longest discussion of the session to House Bill 649 and several associated amendments designed to correct or limit consequences of the inspection repeal added in HB2.

Senator Maguire presented an amendment to restore language from a previously enacted Senate bill concerning fleet passenger registrations and to correct an unintended consequence that would have left only a limited class of fleet vehicles subject to inspection. Committee members agreed to adopt a technical amendment (3066s) intended to restore the intended status of those vehicles and to add carve-outs allowing the director to require inspections for school buses and placarded hazardous-material vehicles.

Senator Ricciardi offered an amendment (3065s) to define "unsafe motor vehicle," preserve equipment standards that otherwise would disappear when the inspection repeal takes effect, and require written disclosures to consumers in used-vehicle sales; that amendment was presented as a consumer-protection measure supported by the governor's office and the Department of Safety. The Department of Safety (Assistant Commissioner Eddie Edwards and state police Troop G commander Thomas Collin) testified that objective criteria are needed to guide law enforcement once annual inspections end, and warned of increases in abandoned or unsafe vehicles if there is no statutory guidance. Brandon Garad, senior assistant attorney general and chief of the consumer protection bureau, described how the disclosure regime would work in dealer sales and said the office could enforce the provision with existing staff.

Committee debate focused on tradeoffs after repeal of annual inspections: proponents of the amendments said they would create guardrails for law enforcement and consumer protections; opponents said repeal itself left the state with an enforcement burden and questioned whether police should be tasked with inspection-style determinations. The committee adopted the technical fix but recorded a split tie on the Ricciardi consumer-protection amendment and on final passage; the transcript shows the committee ultimately failed to reach a majority recommendation and the item will be handled on the floor (the clerk recorded the result as "without recommendation" in the transcript).