California Introduces Bill to Exempt pre-1981 Vehicles From Emissions Inspection Requirement

action required

SB 1224

.

Good news for 76 teeners in CA.

Are you freaking serious ??!!!!!! .......... I sure hope it passes!!!!!! but judging from the insane california legislature ........ it may not .............

Don't rely on others to write for you. . . take the few minutes to send an Email and forward this to every car guy you know. . .
You can bet Al Gores' tree hugger Green Peace people will be working to keep this from passing. . . .

That's a vote getter bill. The EPA mandates all car from 75 on must pass emission testing for the year of the engine.

SEMA is a great lobbying group but they are going to need our help. Send letters or emails to all your state senators and reps. We all need to get behind this bill. If you post on other car forums please mention this bill on those forums.
Cheers, Elliot

I'll see if I can get some non-auto industry orgs. I work with to get behind this too.

It's a step in the right direction, but frankly the original rolling 30 year old car exemption was the right way to go, and hopefully the Sierra Club et al types will get off their high-horses & support this & eventually a 30+/- yr rolling exemption!

Most of them are driving BIG!! SUVs & Pick-ups/crew-cabs spewing as much or more than the classic cars - and they drive them far more miles = WAY MORE smog caused by supposed enviros!!!!

I know - I've seen them! They'll hog the roads in single occupant gas guzzlers, then come speak out against roads, cars & smog exemptions left & right, as though they have nothing to do with producing it - let alone trying to reduce it, by their own activities!!!!

Nothing against those who have & use them, just don't be a hypocrite & speak out against the very things less harmful &/or needed roads/freeways that you use & what you're doing to worsen smog yourself!

CA guys & gals - write your State Senator & Assemblyman/woman on this bill!
> it will eventually get a corollary bill in the Assembly.

Sounds like we need a companion effort in the US Congress & Senate!

BTW folks - Atlanta is in the same air quality non-attainment situation as LA/SD/SoCal & SF Bay area on this restriction.

I did it!

Cannot wait to see the ads against this bill probably showing a black and white, slow motion film of a old station wagon spewing black smoke like a 1963 Boeing 707 with people choking, a devastated forest, and dead seals washing up in Santa Monica bay.

done

76 on. Unless the DMV forgot about me.

I just sent emails to my California reps. I will also be sending a written letter to the transportation committee. Lets show some support for this bill.
Cheers, Elliot

Transportation Committee
1020 N Street Rm 112
Sacramento, Ca.
95814

phone 916-319-2093

Done, I just sent emails to the Committee members, as well as to my local representatives. Do it -- and be sure to personalize your letters so that the legislative analyst staffers that ultimately read the letters don't slough it off as merely a form letter!

Geoff

Here is a copy of the letter I sent you can simply cut and paset into you email.
It could not be simpler.

Take action you dont have to use my format but dont sit on your hands.

Dear Senator, I am writing to share with you my support of SB-1224, This bill would allow vehicles made prior to model year 1981 to be exempt from the Smog inspections. As an Auto hobbyist we are all very committed to the preservation and continued enjoyment of these cars which really represent a fraction of the vehicles on the road and contribute almost nothing to the air quality problems we face. An exclusion would be a welcome respite from the difficulties which face the restorers and maintainers of these now over 30 year old vehicles.
Please consider supporting SB1224 you will have my gratitude and respect.

And to think, I was about to send mass mailings to California attempting to BAN all pre 1981 vehicles from driving on public roadways.


That way the prices for all those old Porsches in California would drop like a rock and I would buy some of them.


























Just kidding! Sounds like good news for you left coasters. Would that mean that engine swaps with engines up to 1981 would also be exempt?????

Here is the way it works for the current 1975 & older cars I suspect it would be the same for 80 & older. The inspection criteria would be specific to the chassis production date so you could put whatever engine you wanted in the 1980 chassis without fear of government reprisal...

No, the EPA does not. It mandates the standards. In MANY states, there is no emission testing at all once the car is on the road.

This bill in the US Senate and Congress would be a waste of time. Emissions inspections are state by state.

True in part, but it is the US EPA who dictates to the States what their smog controls, emissions standards & attainment levels (how clean their urban area's air must be) .... so in reality the States are only marginally put in charge of enforcing what the Feds say must be done.

Just a couple of years ago the Feds quashed a Calif effort to again up the auto emissions standards which new cars must meet - as they did in the 1960's & 70's, but the Feds & Courts put an end to that move - with lotsa help from Detroit etc.!

So in fact it is a necessary step to increase US EPA & other Federal standards - especially since conversely, the States cannot have anything less stringent than the Feds - as in the case of the 1981 or rolling 30 year classic/vintage vehicle exemptions.

It's a Federal priority based on the priority of government, interstate commerce, etc.

MrHolland - what he's referring to is under the US EPA's standards for what they call "Non-Attainment Areas", which are most of the big cities which do not meet the Federal Air Quality standards (too smoggy), which include Atlanta, Los Angeles Region, SF Bay Area Region, San Diego & Sacramento Metro Areas, most or all of the San Joaquin Valley, Chicago, Detroit, NYC, etc.

While it's true that they don't technically mandate the smog testing per se, what the Feds do is get the Cities & States by "the short stuff & twist" by denying any non-complying City their share of Federal Highway funding if they either don't meet the Federal/EPA standards, or take the measures in their "standard package" of emissions reduction measures &/or supply an EPA approved set of alternative measures (e.g.: with consideration for things like mass transit improvements).

IIRC - your area of Weed CA is outside of the CA required smog testing, since it is rural and not within one of the non-attainment areas, ergo you may not have that requirement up there in the crystal clear north!

Update: I read earlier this week that this bill was killed in committee by the greenies afraid that a few 1000 miles a year on classics will ruin the air!

Wow. It's okay for "Occupiers" to defecate in the streets but it's not okay to drive some old cars a few miles a year. Interesting....

And closed ... Way to kill a otherwise informative thread. Good job guys ...