Desert Nomad

Does anybody know if the smog law exemption for pre-73 vehicles in California has been repealed? I just read in one of the Chevy mags that the smog ****'s were wanting to sniff all cars back to 1910. Tell me it ain't true.
Desert Nomad
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia :bs

mrg

Haven't heard any updates, lately, as to the status of that pending legislation. It's hard to imagine why any Congress person would even waste their time on somthing like this bill. How many pre '73 cars are out their running around on an everyday basis .. ? .. You hardly even see them anymore.

1Redctoo

The last I heard was that it is pending . Our Corvette club is drafting a letter to our congressman to voice our displeasure . Hopefully all the car clubs will speak up and help stop this.

SWCDuke

In late April an amendment was added to the bill that eliminated all the proposed smog check requirements going back 45 years. The current rolling 30 year exemption will, thus, remain. What remains of SB708 changes some fines. If you want the details go to
http://www.sen.ca.gov/

and type SB708 into the search box.

I wrote a letter to Debra Bowen my State Senator, and about the time the bill was amended she wrote back telling me so and also said that she did not support original proposed smog check requirements of the bill. My hunch is that the senate, including Florez, the bill's sponsor were inundated with e-mail. There has to be at least one million hard core car guys in CA, and if all of them wrote e-mails to their state representatives this kind of nonsense would stop.

Thanks to all of those who wrote, and to those of you CA cars guys who did not e-mail your state senator about SB708, you will have another chance as an attempt to overturn the current 30 year exemption occurs every year in either the Assembly or Senate. If CA representatives got one million e-mails every time some senator of assemblyman attempts to modify the current law they would give it up for good.

For all of you who live in CA, the next time this issue comes up in the CA Senate of Assembly, WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AN E-MAIL EXPRESSING YOUR DISPLEASURE WITH SUCH ACTION. To those of you who wrote, thanks for supporting our interests!

I believe when I wrote Sen. Bowen back in February or March, I copied the text of my note on this Forum.

Duke


P.S. Due to the way "year" is defined in the current 30 year exemption, it's actually a 29 year exemption because new model years are introduced before the calender year begins. According to the BAR web site, 1974 models were exempt on Jan. 1, 2003, and each subsequent Jan 1, will exempt the next sequential model year.

Addendum:

For those of you still "drafting" letters you need to be a bit quicker on the trigger next time. (It took me maybe five minutes to craft my e-mail to Bowen.) The CA legistalure is full of car hating, left wing liberals, and they will continue to attempt to take out their wrath on vintage car lovers. We are a small minority and our vintage cars do not significantly contribute to air pollution, but they HATE OUR OLD CARS and they HATE PEOPLE WHO LIKE CARS.

Though we may be a small minority, let us not be a small silent minority, but a vigorously vocal minority!!! Don't wait for you car club to write a letter, WRITE YOUR OWN. If your car club wants to write a letter on behalf of its members that's fine, but you have e-mail and can think for yourself, right? You can find your senator's or assemblyman's e-mail by doing a search on Google or any search engine for California Senate or California Assembly, and from those sites you can find out who your representative is (if you don't know) and their e-mail address, and read the text of the bill. It's as easy as falling off a log.

Here is the text of my letter to Bowen on 3/24/03:

Dear Senator Bowen,

I request that you not support SB 708 and do whatever you can to see
that it is tabled or defeated.

Vintage car enthusiasts worked long and hard to obtain the current 30
year emission test exemption. I am the original owner of a very rare
1976 model car that I drive less than 1000 miles per year. It has been
particularly difficult to obtain emission certificates for this car
dating back to the dawn of emission testing in the early eighties - not
because of any problem with the car, but because the BAR's test
procedure cannot handle the car's unusually high manufacturer's
specified idle speed. This has led to countless hours of phone calls
and letters to the BAR - a very unpleasant and time wasting ritual
every two years.

In January this car passed an ASM emission test with flying colors. It
would have passed the standards for a brand new car, and I breathed a
sigh of relief as this would be the last test under the current law.

I was a strong supporter of the originally proposed 25 year exemption,
which has been implemented by several states. Cars this old or older
represent less than 10 percent of the vehicle population and account for
much less than 10 percent of miles driven since they are, for the most
part, collector cars and have low annual mileage accumulation. Cars more than 30 years old represent an even smaller percentage of the vehicle fleet and miles driven.

I suggest that many other internal combustion engine sources, some
completely unregulated, account for significantly more emissions than
vehicles over 30 years old. Aircraft from both the general and
commercial aviation sectors, lawn and garden equipment, water craft, and
farm and off-road industrial equipment come to mind.

Given California's "budget crisis", I believe the legislature should
concentrate its efforts on bringing financial discipline to the state
budgeting and spending process and solving the continuing "energy
crisis", which has now taken the form of very high gasoline prices due
to changes in California's fuel formulation that was mandated by the
state.

Very truly yours,

G. R. Williams


Here is here response on 4/29/03:

Dear Mr. Williams:

Thank you for contacting me with your opposition to SB 708 (Florez). Your
views on bills and issues facing the Legislature are very important to me.

As you know, SB 708 originally sought to change the 30-year rolling
exemption from the state's smog check laws to a 45-year exemption, meaning
in 2004, cars made between 1959 and 1974 that are now exempt from the smog
check laws would be required to undergo a smog check.

The bill was amended in March to eliminate smog checks for pre-1974 cars
driven less than 12,000 miles a year. Then in April, Senator Florez
amended
the bill so it now doesn't alter the state's smog check program at all.

Instead, SB 708 now increases the minimum fine for a driver who violates
the
state's existing vehicle exhaust limits from $100 to $250 and increases the
maximum fine from $250 to $400. The bill also allows counties to create
vehicle inspection programs to fine drivers who are violating the existing
smog emissions laws and to catch drivers who are violating the state laws
against drinking and driving.

During my 10+ years in the Legislature, I've consistently opposed efforts
to
extend the state's smog check laws to classic cars because I don't think
requiring cars that are driven a few hundred or a few thousand miles a year
to meet the smog check standards will significantly improve California's
air
quality. Furthermore, whatever improvements are made are likely to be very
expensive for classic car owners and I have little doubt there are other
places where California can get much bigger air pollution reductions for a
lot less money.

Congratulations to you, because I have little doubt that phone calls,
letters, and e-mails from people just like you helped convince Senator
Florez to not go ahead with his attempt to apply the state's smog check
laws
to cars manufactured prior to 1974.

Thank you again for sharing your opposition to this bill with me. If I
can
be of any assistance on this or any other state-related issue, please feel
free to email me at senator.bowen@sen.ca.gov or call me at (310) 318-6994.


Sincerely,

Debra Bowen
Senator, 28th District




[Modified by SWCDuke, 12:02 PM 6/2/2003]

Desert Nomad

Thanks guy's, thats a load off my mind as I'm only home for 40 days a year. I didn't want to spend that time hassling with state smog people and re-registration formalities when I could be driving. I do remember that a few years ago they tried the same thing. I beleive the bill was finally modified at the time. I'll be e-mailing the Senate and Congress folks every year from now on. Thanks again.

Desert Nomad :hurray: :flag

DanTanna

Hey I'm a liberal and I still love old cars and I even like some of the people that drive them! Still, I agree with Duke, if we speak up the hobby will survive. :flag

mrg

Well, I have to admit I was one of the "guilty" ones who was too slow on the draw. But, next time 'round I'll be ready .. ! .. I was thinking of doing the next best thing and still write an email to Senator Florez, who wrote the original draft of SB708, even though the current bill appears to be in hibernation. My somewhat cynical mind has to wonder why Senator Florez decided to take SB708 to task. Maybe to gain some suck up points with some environmental organization .. ? .. Even Senator Bowen stated she felt there were bigger fish to fry in "other places" to gain reductions in air pollution. Thanks for posting your email and Senator Bowen's response, Duke. Very interesting ..

Hey, Desert Nomad ... I assume you are stationed in Saudi Arabia with the troops .. ?.. All the best .. :flag

mrg

TheOman

"It's hard to imagine why any Congress person would even waste their time on somthing like this bill. "

Let me just throw in an observation here and it is NOT limited to California or to Georgia where I currently live. EVERY Congress person wants to get involved in this feel good legislation. It is all about simple LEVERAGE. Where else can they get the support of SO MANY clean air freaks at the expense of so few votes?? Everyone wants clean air Right? Everyone wants GROSS POLLUTERS off the road Right?

All the politicians have gotta do is demonize a minority like the old car crowd, align themselves with the "Good Fight" for clean air and then count the votes. So a few car guys are pissed off.... so what ? The politicians automatically win the support of the Moms and Dads who want clean air for the kids even if they don't care about it for themselves: hell they might even like old cars, the politicians win the support of the Greenpeace Nuts, they win the support of the The Sierra Club Flakes and they win the support of every other do gooder eco. / safety **** faction on the face of the eco vote landscape.

Who cares if those evil pollution monger car nuts only drive their "gross polluters" 1000 miles per year, who cares if in REALITY many of those cars pass emissions like Dukes Vega did...WHO CARES about anything as long as the Congressman gets re-elected.

It is all a matter of simple POLITICAL LEVERAGE.....kiss of a few votes to get a LOT of votes





[Modified by TheOman, 8:21 PM 6/2/2003]

SWCDuke

That's why it's important for car guys to take individual action to defeat this kind of legislation. I conservatively estimate that there are at least a million Californians who either own a vintage car or may see themselves owning one at some point. That's only about three out of every 100 Californians, but if we think and work together, we can defeat this kind of nonsensical legislation.

Whatever state you live in remember this the next time some anti-collector car legislation comes up in your state. As a group thinking together we make up a significant consituency, and it's only a matter of minutes to write your solons a letter expressing your displeasure and offering other alternatives as I did in my letter to Sen. Bowen along with a not so subtle hint that CA solons need to concentrate on the basics of running the state now that CA has a $38 billion dollar budget deficit (yes, that's over $1000 for every man, woman, and child in CA), which was caused by their spending spree back when they were receiving windfall revenues from capital gains taxes and acted like that revenue stream would last forever.

IMO the whole Sacramento gang of ex-hippies and flower childen including Joe Davis need to be fired by the voters the next time they're up for re-election. Collectively, I don't think they could run a hot dog stand!!!

Duke

Desert Nomad

Hello MRG from San Jose,
I work for an oil company over here, but have hosted many of our troops over the house back in the Gulf war. My '67' is actually stored not to far from you up in the Bay area. I've got a house down in Torrance not far from SWC Duke. Hope to be cashing in here soon and returning home. 20 years is long enough especially in light of recent events. Thanks again for your response and especially to SWC Duke for the inside scoop on our beloved law makers up in Sacramento.
Desert Nomad :iagree: :cheers:

mrg

Hi Desert Nomad ..
Twenty years in Saudi Arabia .. ? .. I bet you have seen a lot in that period of time, not to mention current events. I once considered going to Saudi Arabia as a work oppotunity. Some of the stories I heard of guys who did go there made me second guess and reconsider, though. Seems there were too many restrictions on foreigners with regard to Saudi culture. Guys had to live in a compound, separate from the Saudi's .. No BEER ... No ladies .. Well, that was the scuttlebutt, anyway.

So you gonna pack it in .. ? .. Retire .. ? .. And yes, we gotta watch those rascals in Sacramento .. ! ..

mrg

MassVette

The same crap has gone on here forever- to a lesser degree. Demonize and marginalize small groups, buy votes from bigger groups- typical 'liberal' politics- aided and abbetted by the 'liberal' media water boys.
:yesnod:
Keep up your vigilance-------