Wow! What great news.
Yes, State Senator Quentin L. Kopp of San Francisco has introduced
SB42, which according to the Legislative Counsels Digest:
"Existing law exempts any motor vehicle manufactured prior to the
1966 model-year from provisions requiring vehicles powered by
internal combustion engines in certain areas of the state to
obtain a smog check certificate of compliance or noncompliance
biennially, upon transfer of owhership, or upon registration
of a vehicle previously registered outside the state."
This bill would, instead, exempt from those requirements any
vehicle which is 25 or more model-years old."
This bill was introduced on December 2, 1996.
As many on this list know, currently the Bureau of Automotive
Repair (BAR) uses the same test standards for vehicles equipped
with exhaust emission controls in 1966-1967 as those vehicles
not so equipped (all imported vehicles along with domestically
produced vehicles originally sold outside of California). Not
only is the current BAR position wrong, it violates section
27157 of the Vehicle Code and section 44013 of the Health and
Safety Code, both of which specify that testing is only to
be done to vehicles originally equipped with exhaust emission
controls, and then the test standards cannot be more strict
than the standards under which the cars were built.
I've been trying for months to get an official (or even some
rational unofficial) position from BAR, but they continue to
blow me off, so this bill is really good news.
>Paul Rische commented:
>I'd like to find a copy of his bill. I don't trust him one bit! He may
>have slipped something else into the bill. He has been a strong supporter
>of SMogII.
I checked the actual wording of the SB42 as introduced, and
it simply replaces one of the exemptions from:
"Any motor vehicle manufactured prior tothe 1966 model year."
with
"Any motor vehicle which is 25 or more model-years old."
This change is applied to both section 44011 of the Health and
Safety Code and to Section 4000.1 of the Vehicle Code.
Let me *strongly* urge all California residents to contact their
State Senators and push for the passage of SB42. Since Senator
Kopp is chair of the Transportation Committee, it ought to
at least get out of Committee to a floor vote!
You can find out who your Senator is through the California
Senate home page: http://www.sen.ca.gov
You can also get the full text and status of the bill, and
even subscribe to the bill, which sends you e-mail whenever
there is any action regarding the bill.
Bob Norton
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