More on AB2683, Repeal of the 30 year smog exemption Options

[lapuwali]

Been watching this one.

An analysis done on the 21st stated that an obstacle to the law is the DMV states they need to know if 1976 cars will be exempt or not by July of this year in order to get proper notification out to owners of 1976 cars. However, with the legislative process being what it is, the analyst felt that it couldn't get to Schwarzenegger's desk before September. So, they suggested moving the cutoff to 1977 to solve the timing problem with the DMV.

So far, no word on whether or not this will happen. If so, all 914s would be exempt, and they'd be COMPLETELY exempt, as in they'd be exempt from the regulation, not just the test. If not, there's a chance this may die in the appropriations committee (where it's sitting now) from lack of attention. In any case, there's a decent chance owners of '76s be able to escape this. If it were reintroduced next session, it would have to have a '77 or later cutoff date.

[lapuwali]

The text of the bill was amended on 24 March, to read:

This bill would instead exempt from the smog check requirements
*, and the smog check compliance requirements,* any motor
vehicle manufactured prior to the 1976 model-year.

The change is between the *'s. The full text of the bill, with amendments, is available on the Assembly website: http://www.assembly.ca.gov. Just type in the bill number.

I read this change to mean that compliance with the emissions laws is waived for all "exempt" cars. Others may have other interpretations. This is admittedly a grey area, but it's a toehold for any legal defense if it came to that.

As far as taking away what they've given, there are substantial limitations to enacting retroactive laws. Once they've moved the date up, moving it back would be much more difficult. Note that there have been several attempts to remove the 30 year exemption before, and all failed until this one, which is the first to not try and set the date back. It just fixes it to the present.

As for the sniffers, from what I've read, your car has to basically be pouring out black smoke for it to be caught by a roadside sniffer. If you keep your car in any reasonable state of tune, you're safe.

The one seriously helpful thing is that the primary agent of enforcement here is the DMV, which has proven itself to be a "least effort" organization time and again. This is the same organization that somehow managed to interpret the 30 year rolling exemption as: the current year - 29, which is why 1975 MY cars are exempt this year, rather than in 2005.