When entertainer and classic car collector Jay Leno last year sought smog-check mercy for autos from the late 1970s to early 1980s, many of them popular with lowrider enthusiasts, the proposal stalled amid opposition from environmental advocates and public health groups.
But on Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom went to Leno’s garage and signed a revised, narrower exemption from smog checks, one that would cover many model years of cars such as the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, the Chevrolet El Camino, the Oldsmobile Cutlass and Ford Bronco. It will cover model years 1976 through 1980 starting in 2028, with additional model years through 1985 by 2033.
“The Governor stuck with this legislation through the last couple of years to preserve California’s classic car heritage, and that’s rare,” Leno said in a statement issued by the governor’s office thanking Newsom for his signature. “The car community has been waiting on this for a long time, and they notice when someone follows through.”
The bipartisan bill, SB 1392, was authored by state Senators Dave Cortese, a San Jose Democrat, and Shannon Grove, a Bakersfield Republican.
State law requires vehicles that are more than eight years old to pass a smog check every other year to renew registration. If a vehicle fails the smog check, the owner must pay for repairs and have it retested until it passes in order to receive valid tags. Autos from model year 1975 and earlier are exempt, as are alternative vehicles such as electric cars.
An earlier version of the Leno’s Law last year, SB 712, sought to extend the exemption for vehicle model years 1975 and earlier into the mid-1980s. But the bill never made it to the governor’s desk.
Public health advocates, air quality districts and environmental organizations argued it would increase smog pollution, and cited concerns about high asthma rates among children in poorer communities. Will Barrett, assistant vice president for nationwide clean air policy of the American Lung Association, said at the time that vehicles built in the early 1980s emit more than 100 times the tailpipe pollution of modern cars. Attempts to satisfy environmental opponents with additional qualification requirements, such as requiring historical license plates, were seen by some classic car enthusiasts as overly burdensome.
“We are truly disappointed that California is backing away from proven healthy air protections at the same time our federal government is trying to sunt our clean air progress,” Barrett said Wednesday in response to the bill’s signing. “Children’s lungs don’t care about how shiny the cars exempt from smog checked are.”
Jakob Evans, Sierra Club California senior policy strategist, said the law “prioritizes the interests of multi-millionaire car collectors over the health of everyday Californians.”
Once autos reach model year eligibility under SB 1392, they can qualify for the smog check exemption if the owner can either demonstrate it’s covered under collector vehicle insurance, or starting in 2030, been driven fewer than 1,000 miles in a year.
“This is a pretty narrowly tailored bill designed to allow people to do what they love to do, without having to finagle the law,” Cortese said in an interview. A car enthusiast himself who owns a 1957 Chevrolet pickup truck and a 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle, both vehicles covered under the current exemption, Cortese said he can appreciate the difficulties collectors face trying to keep their cars drivable.
“I know what it takes to try to get something smogged in that time period — it’s very, very hard,” Cortese said. “If you’ve got a 1980 Pontiac Sunbird, you’re just completely out of luck.”
California in the late 1990s exempted vehicles from smog check requirements once they were 30 years old, according to the state Bureau of Automotive Repair, but replaced that system in 2004 out of concern over air quality with the current 1975 model year cutoff.
Cortese and other advocates for extending the exemption another decade argued it wouldn’t affect many cars and they aren’t everyday commuters, but are treasured by collectors to show off to other enthusiasts. Those include lowrider fans, who celebrated a Lowrider Day in front of San Jose City Hall earlier this month and a car show at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in June.
Cortese said vehicles of the vintage targeted in the bill are in the “sweet spot” of local lowrider clubs.
“The 1980 Olds Cutlass is a really popular lowrider car,” Cortese said. “This smog thing is a big stumbling block for them. What’s the point of having a lowrider if you can’t take it out? You don’t want it sitting in your garage like a piece of furniture.”
Newsom on Wednesday also signed AB 2541, by Assembly Member Mark González, a Los Angeles Democrat, establishing the Lowrider specialized license plate program, aimed, his office said, at honoring “a uniquely Californian tradition rooted in Latino artistry, cultural identity, and civic pride.”
Grove said the governor signing Leno’s Law sends a message that “classic car culture is encouraged and welcome in our state.”
“This is not just a hobby,” Grove said in a statement. “It is a lifestyle that brings people together, preserves history, and encourages culture in our state.”
Cortese’s office quoted Leno, noting that the victory in a time of deep political division wasn’t just for car enthusiasts.
“The best part about this is we didn’t just get a bill passed,” Leno said. “It’s Republicans and Democrats working together.”