Ca. Smog Law Changes, Another amendment Options

[Allan]

Any politicos here that can interpret this stuff? What happens now that it's been amended or if it dosn't get finalized before the Senate adjourns next month?

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquer...arch_type=email

[lapuwali]

Dave, you really have to stop being so angry over this. All politics is compromise. Until 1998, all cars had to be smogged all the way back to 1966, with a complete visual test. Things are still not that bad, even assuming this bill passes as is. How many 914s were junked from 1980 to 1998 because they could no longer pass smog w/o unaffordable expenses? Now we're only losing them to rust and accidents.

As for the "no collectors insurance is available to suit me", you can be certain the market will correct for this. As soon as collector insurance becomes a requirement to jump through this loophole, you'll see a few small insurance companies offering much less restrictive "collectors" insurance. If there are mileage limitations, you can be sure there will suddenly be a spate of broken odometers.

I'm not all that concerned about the cutoff date getting removed anytime soon. After all, it took them six years to get a bill modifying the 30 year exemption this close to passing (and it hasn't passed yet). Removing the '76 cutoff will be MUCH harder to do, esp. considering the language in this bill (the word permanent is used), and it could easily take a decade of serious effort.

By that same token, it could be that the collector provision be removed instead of the '76 cutoff, so all 35 year old cars would only need to pass a tailpipe test. IMHO, it's just as likely as having the '76 cutoff removed (maybe more so).