California Smog Exemption Bill 712 ~ Leno's Law

[Red Ryder]

After moving from California to Washington last year, we were delighted to find our new state no longer required smog tests. (No state income tax either!).
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“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)

[Abscate]

[kamzcab86]

[Dailymoto]

[Abscate]

You’re not reading my statement, or not comprehending it, because we aren’t in disagreement.

Extending the life of any large manufactured item is good for the environment.

How’s that ?
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[Dailymoto]

[metahacker]

looks like it passed the Senate Transportation Committee with 12-2 vote

April 21 it goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing

would be very cool if this passes

[zerotofifty]

[syncrodoka]

It has passed appropriation committee with amendments- historical plates and collector car insurance required. Collector insurance requires the vehicle to be garaged, historical vehicle plates limit use.
I recently got tags for my car with HV plates and the DMV had a hard time figuring out how to even enter it into the system. That plate system isn't well understood.

[fxr]

[MarkWard]

There is probably an assumption of wealth and that everyone that can afford a collectable/classic has a garage. I don't think they had vanagon daily drivers in mind. Its a step in the right direction.

[zerotofifty]

[Max Welton]

[xflyer]

Unfortunately this became a political argument. I don't have a dog in that fight.
I'm in California and in the past I ran a repair shop. We got a newsletter from the Bureau of Auto Repair which administers the Smog Check Program here. With that info, and some following of the news, it was clear (even stated outright as few times) that one of the goals of the Smog Check was/is to 'get old polluting vehicles off the roads'. That was the idea of "Cash for Clunkers".
Not too surprising, the auto dealers were supportive of this.
Several times, in the last few decades, a bill was submitted in the California legislature to make it impossible to register a vehicle that was over 10 years old. Soon those bills were withdrawn, as it was pointed out that the "slaves" would be unable to get to work.
Also in California, just about any motor can be installed in a vehicle, however ALL the emission related equipment from the donor vehicle needs to be there and functioning. Plus there's a process to go through with a State "referee" which can be time consuming and costly. The notion is that the OE maker designed and tested the system to comply with the requirements. Someone that uses part of the system(s) cannot guarantee that once on the road the vehicle will stay "clean".
Yes there are certainly issues with newer vehicles that emit more than allowed, however that has little to do with 'ancient' VWs.
There's a little known history about the emissions testing in California and other states.
And as has been mentioned, parts of California got cleaner air over the decades, not so much because of reduced emissions from vehicles (which helps) but because of the closure of many industrial activities. In the SoCal area, if we go back to the 1950s, there were at least 4 steel plants, several cement companies, at least one tire maker, and other places that put "smog" into the air. Those are all gone (along with the jobs).
BTW, I'd like to have an EV if someone would put up the $30K difference to a gasoline vehicle.
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1989 Campmobile, 1984 7 passenger beater Vanagon
Both with cool A/C

[Wildthings]

[zerotofifty]

The state should allow the smog test exemption without the need for collector insurance ( which requires a garage) nor with the need for collector plates. I want to be able to keep my original plates.
The insurance, garaging, plate have zero effect on smog. Dam the state to Hell
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Sorry About That Chief.

Give Peace a Chance.

Words to live by.

[Abscate]

I wonder if this might create a new collector vehicle insurance product with looser restrictions on garaging? Premiums would be higher of course, but if the demand is there, insurance companies could respond
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[crz4vanagon]

The collector restriction seems to have been removed as the bill is currently amended. So all cars, 35 years and older are included in smog test, biennially, and at transfer exemption.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB712

watching it unfold...
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90 Vanagon Carat
90 Vanagon Westfalia

[SoquelDude]

[Wildthings]

Maybe they could add a provision so one could fuel an classic car with ethanol free fuel for the same price as regular fuel. I know I used to be very proud of how my older vehicles ran, and when I voluntarily had them smogged they would do very well. Today with ethanol laced fuel the exhaust can be gagging and they can spit and sputter on a hot restart, and no way would I have them smogged. They also get about 20% worse gas mileage than they used to.