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California listers - we're under attack again!

Randy Harris

Jedi Warrior
Offline
Please read - this is important to you!!

Posted on the Healey mail list and copied for your immediate attention. Once again we have another Assemblyman trying to make his bones in Sacramento at the expense of the collector car hobby. This is aimed at California Listers but could affect people in ten (10)other states that follow California's lead in such matters.

Re: Annual vehicle smog and safety inspections:

AB 616 seems to continue to exempt pre-1976 vehicles in section 44012.5 (c) (1) "All motor vehicles not subject to biannual inspection shall also be exempt from annual inspection." However, 44012.5. (a) says, "The department
shall incorporate annual inspection of motor vehicles 15 or greater model years old into the motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program by July 1,2008."

I have been contacted by someone who called Senator Jone's office. Following is the information that he received:

"..AB 616 will require that ALL vehicles, 15 years and older undergo an annual smog check. The fees collected would purchase older cars that pass smog check to replace cars that will not pass smog for low income Californians. While the intent may be honorable, the bill will include historical, vintage and collector cars as it is presently written.

I called Assemblyman Jones office this morning, and confirmed, our cars are included, and so far there has been
no push-back from constituents to exempt our classics. I explained to Mr. Jones staff that it will be almost impossible for a 43 year old Healey to pass smog, and the bill would literally send our cars to the junk heap. Jones
office says a well-worded letter from car clubs like yours need to come forward soon, in order to add language exempting collector cars. I also explained to him that since our cars are driven very few miles each year, our
cars combined probably contribute less that 1/2 of 1% of greenhouse gasses into the environment. we're not talking a 1988 Chrysler station wagon here."

A fact sheet that was faxed to him and attached to his e-mail only mentions the 15 year old cars and nothing about continued exemptions.


I can only hope that Senator Jone's office staff is not that familiar with the bill. I have written a letter to Senator Jones requesting a clarification and asking him to tell me how his legislation protects collector/specialty/hobby
vehicles. I do not expect a prompt reply - if I get one at all - but I will report his response if I receive one. I, also, will be calling his office

Meanwhile, the Association of California Car Clubs and the restoreclassics.com web site state that the bill has been referred to the Assembly Transportation Committee. <u>They suggest people contact members of the California Assembly
Transportation Committee immediately by phone, fax or e-mail to oppose AB 616.</u> ACCC's web site has contact info on the Committee members.

(The Other) Len
Vacaville, California, USA
1967 3000 MKIII, HBJ8L39031
 
Hi Randy Good Call. I think they heard you at least I hope they did. I have floated the paper around and am in touch with SEMA, however no feedback yet.---Keoke
 
Can you post contact information
 
Hi BH, Just searh SEMA Then select Current Legislation at the bottom of the page is an E-Mail contact.---Keoke
 
Does anyoe have any statistics on how much total

1) cars produce versus

2)the airplane industry versus

3) the US Military versus

4) big industry

Bruce
 
BH,and all California enthusiasts. I just read senate bill AB616. The most striking part is the pro/con arguments. Only one organization; The Alfa Romeo Group have posted an opposing view. If you keep setting on your buts your gonna get this bill rammed down your throats.---Keoke--------------------------- /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hammer.gif


P.S. There are 11 environmental groups supporting this bill.
 
Of course this law would apply to all classic cars, not just our Healeys. Yet it seems the entire classic car industry in Calif. is sitting on its hands. And as California goes, the rest of the country isn't far behind.

Perhaps (I hope) this is another one of those bills, introduced by a nobody with the hope that it will make him a somebody, that won't make it out of Committee. And those in the know don't want to waste their political capital on a stupid bill that's going nowhere. I've fired off a couple of emails to various club officials trying to guage "official" reaction.

Think about it: In California alone, 1/4 million collector cars worth tens of billions of dollars unable to meet Calif. emmissions standards hitting the for sale classified pages at the same time. What would that do to the values of collector cars everywhere? What would that do to the auto restoration and repair industry? It's insane to even think about it. Oh man!

Randy
'66 BJ8, '68 E-type OTS
 
Exotexs said:
Dave Russell said:
Ex,
I have no idea what you are raving about, but I hope you don't get this whole thread shut down.
D

D,
I'm raving about anti-car legislation, which always starts in California and then filters down to the rest of the country by copycat and fanatical legislators.
Ex
Oh - I thought it was about republicans & chrome churches. Or was it gold churches?
D
 
Hi Randy, et al.,

I received this from Len on the team.net email list (which is currently down again), and thought I would pass it along. It seems to be good news (well for the time being at least):

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:] I think we can take our fingers off of the PANIC button.

I just contacted Assemblymember Jones's capital office in an attempt to speak directly to him. He was "not in the office today" but I spoke to a person who was involved in the preparation of the bill. She was aware of the confusion created by the bill and stated that the information previously provided that stated our cars were included in the '15 years and older' group was incorrect. She stated that the amended bill has been clarified to indicate that all pre-1976 vehicles, that were exempt from biennial SMOG checks, remain exempt. That includes new cars under six years old and our pre-1976 'collector and historic" cars.

An amended Fact Sheet has been prepared and I have received a copy from the Assemblymember's office.
I have reviewed the updated Fact Sheet and it states, "...Vehicles excluded from the Smog Check Program under current law remain exempt from the program...".

I believe that we are safe as far as THIS bill is concerned. However, we lost the rolling 30 year exemption in SB 42 not too long ago. Laws come about all the time changing old laws. AB 616 is not the only law in the works regarding pollution. SB 23, Gogdill: “Would require the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) to develop and administer, in consultation with ARB, a voluntary program to remove high polluter vehicles within the SJVAPCD by replacing high polluting vehicles in the district with donated vehicles that meet existing smog inspection and maintenance regulations…” . SB 531, Oropeza: “Would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to reform the regulation of emissions of toxic air pollutants.”. SB 715, Lowenthal: “Would express legislative intent to enact legislation to make technical and cleanup changes to the Smog Check Program.”. Those last two don't say much on the surface but could eventually affect us if and when changes are made.

I will continue to stress that constant vigilance is required.

(The Other) Len
Vacaville, California, USA
1967 3000 MKIII, HBJ8L39031
[/QUOTE]

I will pass along more info if Len gets more data. Looks like we dodged a bullet.
 
By the way -

I will be meeting with the Cal_EPA chief later this month (she is in Hong Kong).

As I am in the position of

1) liking and driving Classic Cars and
2) I am also very concerned about the environment despite my hobby

I was thinking maybe the trick with California (where I keep my BN1) is to institute a "junker offset tax" which essentially would levy something like, say, $250 a year on owning any car older than 20 years old, which if you pay (we would, we own very valuable cars), then that money would be used to buy the other old garbage cars that people don't want to pay for (e.g. 1980 Monte Carlo, Regal, etc. etc.,) and send them to the scrap heap. In effect this would be more or less a "carbon offset" system which is very popular amongst the wealthy these days (they invest in carbon reduction to offset their private jets, monster homes, etc. etc.,).

What would you think if I bring this up with her? With this system, it would mean we would not have to revisit this problem for a good long time - the DMV gets money to get rid of junkers, and we get to keep our valuable cars.

The other thought is to ask her to start having registration fees based solely on displacement of your engines, because modern cars put just as much CO2 in the atmosphere as our cars do, if not more... my BN1 gets 25 MPG so it is much better for Climate Change (CO2) than over half of the new car fleet sold in the US (because they all have 5 liter+ size motors).

Thoughts?

Feel free to flame me if you have a big gas guzzling SUV!

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/sick.gif
 
Ask Her if that is the case and Paragraph #3 of the bill states just that. However, Paragraph #1 of the bill:

"Specifically this Bill":

1]" Requires vehicles 15 years or older to undergo annual vehicle smog inspections."

Sombody in Sacramento is a bit confused or needs a Refresher reading course.---Keoke
 
This subject comes under politics, and religion, ( some folks swallow this " the sky is falling " type of thinking just like it was some kind of religion ), so I cannot say what I really think without breaking Basil's rules.
... I have some " credits " that I will sell real cheap to anyone that " feels " they are guilty of something or other related to the gas that makes plants very happy and healthy !
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banana.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
Ed -

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
Alan,
We could get into a huge political - social argument on the subject which by forum rules, has no place here. I withdraw my comments.
D
 
I recently read somewhere that Jupiter, Mars and Venus are also experiencing global warming. I wonder what kind of cars they drive there? Maybe Saturns? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
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