SB 1588 and Texas domicile

SB 1588 would effectively eliminate passenger vehicle inspections in Texas.

Today in Austin, Senator Don Huffines (R-Dallas) filed Senate Bill 1588, a bi-partisan bill that will repeal the annual requirement that all passenger vehicles receive a state-certified inspection. A significant and diverse body of scientific evidence indicate that safety inspections do nothing to increase road safety.

from this article

Rethinking SD domicile

Until now I’d been leaning toward South Dakota as a domicile but if this bill goes through it could subtly change (as Jeremy Bentham might say) “the algebra of domiciliary”.

Annual inspections would be an annoyance in my situation as I’d only rarely come back to Texas.  Maybe a couple of weeks every few years.  With the current law I’d have 3 days to get the camper inspected.  And if my mailbox was in an emissions area I’d have to go to that county, which could be hundreds of miles into the state.

All things being otherwise equal, I’d be entirely happy to have Texas to be my domicile.  There are still small advantages for SD (lower sales tax rate, lower insurance rates, mail forwarders in non-emissions counties).  But with Texas I can keep my CHL/LTC which has greater reciprocity, and my KYC-compliant physical address would be a relative here in Texas.

I’ve also started collecting info for a domicile comparison on the rvwiki.