By Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) – Governor Corbett is expected to sign a bill now on his desk that would authorize random testing for gasoline octane levels in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is one of only three states that currently do not have an octane testing program in place, says Erik Arneson, spokesman for the state Senate majority leader, who also says while the bill would authorize the Department of Agriculture to conduct such tests, it would not require them.

“Through the years, legislation to do this has been introduced and stalled at various times. I think one of the concerns was the cost of a statewide program. And this legislation addressed that by making it optional for the department. They are authorized to do random testing, but they are not required to do any certain number.”

Arneson says it’s possible but unlikely there would be no tests.

“Theoretically that’s possible. In all of our conversations with the Corbett administration, they fully realize that now that a program has been authorized, the public is going to expect some good faith effort to do octane testing. So I think you’ll see a good amount of octane testing done every year.”

Retailers and distributors could face fines of up to $5,000 for violations.