The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has issued a notification regarding potential delays in vehicle emissions testing for drivers registering their vehicles. This announcement is due to connectivity issues affecting the testing system.

According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the connectivity problems arise after severe weather damaged the corporate office of the contractor responsible for operating the Texas Information Management System (TIMS). This facility contains a critical data center for the emissions testing network, and currently, it remains inaccessible.

The contractor has enacted its disaster recovery plan, and efforts are underway to keep the system running using secondary backup servers. Despite these efforts, some vehicle inspection stations may face outages or sporadic connectivity problems that could affect drivers seeking to complete vehicle inspections.

"DPS is working with our partners at TCEQ and vehicle inspection station owners on this matter," stated a spokesperson. There is presently no estimate as to when the affected data center will be fully operational.

Members of the public are encouraged to follow DPS' social media channels for ongoing updates regarding the situation.