[hcoles]

in CA you don't want to fail the test, borrow a cat or put your cat on and get advice from SW on what to do to have the best chance of passing with his chip - if you fail you may get put on a bad person list and have to smog more often or go to different stations/etc. best to avoid all that , also in CA there is what's called a visual inspection, if you get caught without a cat you fail on the spot, why there is no visual inspection in WA is curious