Legislation to extend the emissions inspection exemption to vehicles three years old and newer was signed into law by Governor Bev Perdue. Previous law required the inspection of all 1996 and newer vehicles. The new law acknowledges the relatively minimal environmental impact of the newer vehicles targeted for the exemption. The idea behind exempting any class of vehicles is to reduce costs while not losing appreciable emission reductions. This strategy builds support for emission inspection programs, but also directs finite resources to where they will be most valuable in cleaning the air.