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“Leno’s Law:” New Bill Would Exempt California Classics from Smog Checks
Change may be afoot for Californians who own classic cars. A new bill would make life much easier for the thousands of enthusiasts in California by amending the state’s stringent smog rules, which currently mandate smog checks for vehicles built in or after 1976. If passed into law, California Senate Bill 712 would “fully exempt” any vehicle that was made at least 35 years ago, if it were insured as a collector vehicle.
Naturally, California’s most famous classic-car fan, Jay Leno, is all for the change. He’s even agreed to promote the bill. It’s been nicknamed “Leno’s Law.”
“California’s rich classic car culture, sparked by the post-war hot rod boom and boosted by Hollywood’s love for chrome and horsepower, has made it a paradise for enthusiasts like me,” said Leno to NBC Los Angeles. “California’s smog check laws for classic cars need to be updated—they vary too much from state to state, and California’s rules don’t match up with neighboring ones.”
Each of California’s neighboring states—Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona—has a different set of standards when it comes to smogging classics. Oregon only requires emissions testing in two metro areas, Portland and Medford. Portland exempts vehicles with a model year of 1975 or older, and Medford exempts those 21 years old or older. Nevada only requires emissions testing in the urban areas of Las Vegas and Reno. The state lets pre-1968 model-year vehicles off the hook. It also has special registration categories for Classic Rod, Classic Vehicle, and Old Timer, none of which need to be smogged if they’re driven 5000 miles per year or less. Arizona only smogs vehicles in the metro areas of Phoenix and Tucson, and pre-1967 vehicles and those registered as “collectibles” with appropriate insurance are not policed.
California state senator Shannon Grove, a Republican representing Bakersfield, is the bill’s sponsor.
“California has a rich automotive heritage, with some of the first classic cars rolling off assembly lines right here in our state,” she said to NBC.
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Automotive production had an early but slow start in California, with the first plant opening in 1902 and only producing 3000 vehicles in eight years. Ford built an L.A. plant in 1911 but closed it in 1930 to open another location in Long Beach. That one stuck around, producing 1.5 million vehicles. The Chrysler plant in Commerce, built in 1932, was active through 1971 and the Willys-Overland one in Maywood, founded in 1929, till 1954. Toyota built its first plant in the U.S. here—Toyota Auto Body Company, Inc.—and it remains open today.
Grove and Leno both argue that classic cars—if regularly kept up and driven—support the $52B aftermarket industry, represented by the Speciality Equipment Market Association (SEMA), a trade association made of roughly 7000 small businesses, 1066 of which are in California. SEMA itself is based in the Golden State, in Diamond Bar, in eastern Los Angeles County. According to the association, California’s automotive aftermarket industry generates $40.44 billion of economic impact, including $6.16B in taxes paid.
“SEMA is proud to support SB 712. Senator Grove’s bill provides a practical solution for collector vehicle owners, allowing them to enjoy their passion without the burden of unnecessary regulations,” said Mike Spagnola, president and CEO of SEMA. “These vehicles are rarely driven, meticulously maintained, and represent only a fraction of the cars on the road. By exempting collector vehicles from smog checks, we can ensure that these historical treasures are preserved for future generations.”
SEMA even provides an interactive map to help classic-car owners navigate which states require what sort of emissions testing—if they require it at all. (18 don’t.)
The next step for “Leno’s Law” is its first hearing. That will occur in April, before the California Senate Transportation Committee.
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These things can be done simple:
Make 30 year old+ vehicles are emissions exempt.
Why? Because they hardly account for miles driven –and contribute more $ in hobby related businesses. The average age of vehicles in the commuter fleet is 12-13 years old now. Very few drive a 20-30 year old commuter vehicle.
When the 2000’s vehicles hit 30 year status it isn’t like everyone is going to suddenly remove all the emissions stuff anyways (I bet lots of Corvettes get left stock), well aside from the diesel people but that’s a different thing entirely in respects to emissions oversight varying.
California used to have a 30-year rolling exemption, meaning when vehicles turned 30, they were emissions exempt. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) allowed that exemption to be nullified on his watch.
Yep, I remember that. The rolling 30 year exemption was simple and straightforward. I hope that other conditions aren’t added, like a mileage limit or classic car insurance.
Side note, Ah-nold also reduced our auto license fees. Saved me two bucks. It let me retire in grand style!
/s
This is just another example of how the emissions should be leveraged at a Federal level. Doing it by state by state and even in different areas of the state are hard on companies to comply and make things for the automobiles. It is like everyone using their own SAE standard on nuts and bolts.
The cars involved here are driven low miles and in small numbers. They have no real effect on the emissions.
In many cases modified cars are tuned to a higher standard than stock and can even be cleaner out the tail pipe but California will reject it because it did not have an EO number on the modified parts.
This a much fairer law and makes it so people can enjoy their hobby. California has almost killed the auto culture there. It is not like it used to be and may never recover but this could help.
Common sense and some mechanical knowledge is needed when crafting these laws. You just can leave it to politicians and activist.
Here in Ohio collector plates. and historic plates exempt you.
Our emissions testing is only in a couple areas and is a joke. They just check for engine codes and the state pays a company with cigarettes’ law suit money. The owner ship and investment in the company is questionable. It is not like one county is cleaner than the next as the wind is always blowing.
Out trained inspectors miss much. One tested a Viper and never noted the cats were gone. They have no clue.
It is tough enough on the hobby with CARB and exhaust regs. It is time to help the hobby back and make it so we can enjoy our hobby with no more hassle and no more added crazy costs.
All Carb approved parts cost more with an EO number. It is the same part other states can buy cheaper but you pay for the sticker for the added admistrative and testing costs that add up.
“Doing it state by state…”
You say that like there are 50 different state emissions laws for manufacturers to contend with. There are two levels: the Federal emissions level and the California emissions level. California was granted an exemption to set their own emissions requirements for vehicles due to California’s exceptional smog conditions. Other states can choose to adopt the California standard, or will follow the Federal requirements.
Those are the only two options. States (or areas within those states) cannot impose emissions requirements on manufacturers that differ from those two options. The system is far from perfect, but the smog levels of 1970s California was not sustainable. Anyone who lives in California, or travels there regularly, can attest that while smog pollution is still an issue it’s far better than it was 40 years ago, especially considering the increase in the number of vehicles on the road.
I believe the comment was speaking to the issue of collector car testing, which does vary immensely from state-to-state, as covered in the article.
I agree. But the comment indicated the differences in testing made it difficult for new vehicle auto manufacturers. If the issue is the varied state testing regimens that apply to collector vehicles, then it has no impact on the manufacturers. They engineer and produce for the Federal and California standards only. They’re not concerned about whether their vehicles are tested or not—and whether they pass or not—after the emissions warranty period expires. Whether a state tests emissions or not 20-30 years after the vehicle was produced has no impact on the manufacturer. With emissions systems these days typically functioning properly until well after the warranty expires, the impact of collector vehicle emissions testing on new vehicle manufacturers is essentially nil. Respectfully, that’s what I was responding to in the comments.
Good to hear. Maybe the lead pic should be a car that is currently in need of testing but would be exempt under the proposed law? Like the 911 or BMW?
Because that Lincoln is currently exempt! It’s a 1963 or so.
It’s a 1965.
I’m all in favor of emissions testing and forcing car owners to make their cars clean and compliant. But an older car (25 years old in Texas) that is registered / insured as a classic and driven a limited number of miles annually is not part of the problem. Cars before OBD2 had to have their exhaust directly sampled and in Texas, all that stuff has been decommissioned since it’s no longer required. I have a 31 year old car insured through Hagerty (which saved me a lot btw), which I drive less than 1000 miles a year. I don’t think my car is contributing meaningfully to poor air quality.
It’s a start for California. A classic should be exempt, it’s 25 years here in Texas, other states could follow suit.
I have a 1986 El Camino, 350 (unmodified) and smog testing is a pain. Calif charges extra if the car does not have OBD2 and some shops will not test them without. Most tecs do not know how to test old cars, all they want to do is plug them in and run the motor. I am retired and drive about 12 to 1500 miles per year, mainly around town. I think the 25 to 30 year period is good.
Sometime in the past, Calif had the 25 year rule.
It would be nice if CA would exempt any pre OBD2 cars, especially if they are insured as “collector cars” and are driven a limited number miles. Emissions testing on pre OBD2 cars is becoming harder to obtain, as the shops doing these older cars (“Gold Star” shops that can do both “test only” and repair to emissions systems) are no longer keeping the equipment used to test the older cars. This is an indication that the emissions test tools are no longer required, as there are few cars to test.
In CA, newer cars are no longer tested every 2 years, with intervals of 5 years or more, depending on year of manufacture, while they make up the majority of the vehicles in the daily use fleet. Our collector cars built after ’75 require testing every two years, despite the fact that most are driven less than 1000 miles per year. Hopefully, our state government will vote in favor of releasing this small number of cars that are driven so few miles from the difficult to obtain and unnecessary testing.
Okay, I’ll try again only using a different tact. Given todays current round of dismissing necessary EPA regulations at the swipe of a pen for no good reason excepting pure greed and arrogance, is it no surprise that a reasonable common sense approach can’t be reached?
“Greed and arrogance”. Please clarify. In my opinion, these have the taint of buzz words without real substance or specific definition. They’re often used by politicians to emotionally sway voters, paint the other side as nefarious, or short circuit genuine debate.
I prefer honesty over obfuscation.
For me, I can live with OBDII and newer testing.
Illinois requires testing for cars registered in the Chicago and St Louis metro areas in compliance with EPA regs. Vehicles built before 1996 (pre-OBD II) and those with Antique (25 plus years old, show use only) plates are exempt. Not sure about EA (Everyday Antique) plates. It works ok, maybe better than the CA proposal since all pre-OBD II vehicles are exempt. I like the idea of exempting vehicle by collector insurance status instead of plate type, but since Illinois does not require proof of insurance at the time of registration or renewal (really), insurance status will not work.
Our classic car carbon footprint is nil compared to air pollution from our wildfires. My 1976 Bronco missed the rolling exemption when it was stopped. Been waiting years for something to change. I do have classic insurance as I bought the car new and it is valuable. Good luck on the bill.
Good luck on bill.
Class car insurance runs more the a smog test every 2 years. I don’t my 1990 truck much, so I will keep on with the smog. This smells good for the insurance company.
That is simply not true. My classic car insurance is much much much cheaper than, for example, a catalytic converter that might be needed for my 79 Mercedes to pass smog. My experience is that classic car insurance is very reasonably priced.
I live in Oregon currently, i have owned, also drive,also growing up with classic cars my whole life . This would be good for California and the car culture, we need to preserve and enjoy our classics. My newest car or truck is a 78 year , when it passed there DEQ emissions test , it ran worse. I’d be in front of the testing facility making adjustments till hopefully passed ,after it passed, I’d adjust it back to run properly and do it again in a few years. I always felt it was money grab for the state .
I have a 1979 VW super beetle that was first purchased in California. If it were still in California, it would be subject to the law that every piece of smog eqipment on the new engine needed to be in place and functioning. So the VW enthusiast crowd, which is prevalent in California, has orphaned my car, and some parts for that (badly) fuel-injected engine are no longer obtainable.
This would bring my car into the enthusiast world, make more parts available, and allow me to modify the engine to even more modern standards. These cars don’t get a lot of use, and while they might not individually be as clean as a 2025 model, their level of pollution is probably a lot less than a backyard charcoal grill.
With the ridiculous cost of the money light kicking on, car and truck owners will spend an xtra 1 to 2 K during the life of said vehicle, and yet the climate is still in death mode, this crap needs to stop
The bright side of that cost – it cut the cost to people (like me) buying cars to take out of state. If the seller had a 2K estimate to make the car comply, they usually would drop their price accordingly
Let’s all email Senator Grove and get this bill passed!