SB708 (Repeal Smog Exemption) Still A Threat

[jyl]

Here is the latest on SB 708, the attempt to repeal the California smog exemption for >30 year old vehicles:

The bill has been amended to read:

(3) (A) Any motor vehicle manufactured prior to the 1974
model year that is driven less than 12,000 miles per year.
(B) Beginning January 1, 2005, any motor vehicle that is 45
or more model-years old.

This means that pre-1974 cars are exempt if they are driven less than 12,000 miles per year, and that for all later cars the rolling 30-year exemption is replaced by a rolling 45-year exemption.

This amended bill is still BAD. It means that your 1973-or-earlier Porsches can no longer be daily drivers unless they are smogged, and it means your 1975 Porsche will not be smog exempt next year - you will now wait until 2019! - so forget about the Weber conversion you were planning.

Please note that the email that Sentor Florez's office has been sending, which claims "SB708, with our most recent amendments, will require vehicles over 30 years old which are driven 12,000 or more miles a year to get a smog check" is a lie. That is not what their amended bill does, and it's not like they can't read their own writing.

Call, write, or email your Senator as well as the bill's author, Senator Florez, to oppose this bill. Do it over and over. Here is the Senate website http://www.sen.ca.gov/ to get contact information. Search here for some sample letters by Wayne and others - you want to emphasize the opposition of the entire car enthusiast population (politicians care about numbers).

Don't be passive and figure that we (the car enthusiasts) can't do anything about this. We obviously can. Why do you think Senator Florez was forced to amend his bill in the first place?

[Wayne 962]

Okay, it is an unpopular opinion, but pre-1973 cars should *not* be driven as daily drivers. I think that this is indeed the issue that this bill is supposed to correct. Anyone who thinks that the 12,000 mile limit is too low, is severely polluting our air by using a pre-1974 car as a daily driver. I would have expected the limit to be more like 5,000 miles per year.

-Wayne

[slater]

Well, I guess it's a good thing VDO odometers never work. "Sure, I only drove it .2 miles since last year!"

[cowtown]

1) How will they enforce the mileage limit?
(Answer - they can't.)

2) Why pass an unenforcible law?
(Answer - they can't get the law through as originally written, so they will try this. Then they will begin dialing back the mileage limits until you get that note in the mail..."you are required to pass an emissions test before registering your vehicle" Now you're shopping for air injection components and thermal reactors.

3) Severe pollution is a relative term. How many pre-74 cars need to be taken off the road to amount to the pollution of one semi truck? One two-stroke lawnmower? One carbed motorcycle? One campfire?

I don't buy this whole thing. This law is a "slippery slope" approach to regulating all older cars.

Write your Senators!

[jyl]

Wayne, even if you agree with a 12,000 mile/year limit for "exempted" pre-1974 cars, and if you trust Sen. Florez not to make 12,000 miles just an intermediate step to zero miles, do you agree with a zero mile limit for a 1974? Should that one model year make so much difference?

From the email sent by Sen. Florez' office, it sounds as if the rolling 30-year exemption still applies, just with a 12,000 mile limit. Some would find that reasonable, and drop their opposition to the bill. But when you actually read the amended bill, you find it is actually a 45-year rolling exemption for all post-1973 vehicles. So the Senator or his staff is being very sneaky.

That, plus the fact that Sen. Florez obviously would prefer to completely eliminate the exemption (as his original bill would have done) and, once given an inch, may go for a mile next year, made me get vocal about this.

[YTNUKLR]

They cannot enforce the mileage limit. They can't do a lot of things and they know it. They're playing the trojan horse, because once you let this bill go, someone of those law-writers is going to scribble out a few words and fill them in differently. I agree with Wayne on the issue of 30+y.o. daily cars, but I don't see them very often during weekdays, and usually they're beetles. They come up with so many worthless laws you'd think they'd regulate when you ate and took a pee. Sheesh. DO NOT LET THIS BILL PASS!!!

[Wayne 962]

1974 cars these days just came off of the rolling exemption - they are exempt from smog. 1975 cars are not. I support the rolling exemption that requires cars 1975 and later to be smogged (when they started having real smog equipment). Seems silly to target the 1974 cars arbitrarily. I don't support rolling things back that are exempt (i.e. you toss away your emissions equipment, and then they change the law on you).

I don't have the data in front of me, but I've done quite a bit of research on this in the past (some at college). These older cars are indeed a big source of pollution. Think of how many old VW beetles are still driven every day as daily drivers. I'm not going to get into politics here, but the government needs to give people a financial incentive to get these old cars off of the road, otherwise it's not going to get done. I think that even if the older cars still do pass emissions, it's probably not going to be enough to clean up the air here in LA...

-Wayne

[red-beard]

The local "retirement" law in Los Angeles did not seem to really work.

Wayne - I agree with you that our cars shouldn't be daily drivers, but I do believe that 12,000 miles per year is just a stepping stone. This was added, only with pressure.

The real issue at 25 years is finding the parts to repair. D-jet components are still around but a lot of these parts are getting expensive.

What I want to see is _the data_. How many cars are on the road that are 25-45 years old? How many miles are they driven per year? What emmision level will you be testing for a 1960's car that is driven over 12,000 miles?

My 1970 914/6 does not have any smog equipment. No airpump. no cat. The only thing that looks like an emission level in the manual is an adjustment to set the CO to about 3%.

So, why are the Senators really going after this issue, this year?

With the fiscal crisis on, they are not going to get as much Pork for their districts this years and they have to show they did _SOMETHING_.

I'd like to see a law that goes after the cars from Baja California. The cars with very visible emissions in San Diego usually have BC plates!

James