Leno’s Law

Many of you may have (or may not have) been following the progression of California State Senate Bill 712, better known as Leno’s Law. The law makes a smog exemption on collector cars 35 years and older. The champions working to pass this bill into law are state senator Shannon Grove and comedian & Corvair owner Jay Leno. Here is a great article by Hagerty on the topic.

It may be a moot point to mention this bill on a Corvair club site as the very last Corvair off of the assembly line passed this 35 year milestone many years ago, but it is important to bring to your attention for two reasons.

1. Many Corvair owners are interested in different cars. Some of these cars may have been produced in the 80’s or 90’s. More importantly, YOUNG enthusiasts (those under 50 years old) are very interested in this vintage (especially Japanese and German cars of this era). Having to take a collector car in every year or every other year for a smog check could dissuade a potential young collector. Finding a shop that will smog a 35 year old cars is even more difficult and expensive. Like anything else, it is important to re-populate the hobby with new and younger enthusiasts for its longterm health. It is also important for the health and survival of the many vendors that supply parts for classic cars. For how often classic cars are driven, their environmental impact is close to zero.
2. This law provides cover to classic cars of our vintage. This is to say, if this law doesn’t pass, there may be a politician, for whatever reason, that wants to do away with ALL cars over 35 years old. You may laugh at this hypothetical, but how closely do you think most of the voters in the state vote on or even pay attention to any state laws? Some laws get passed in the dark of night with very little interaction or fanfare with the media or with voters.

The Specialty Equipment Market Association SEMA has been working tirelessly to ensure that this bill gets passed into law here in the Golden State. We applaud their effort. With some federal mandates being paused or rolled back and with the support of the Governor, there is a lot of hope that this bill will be passed into law.

But, hope won’t get us there. The bill is still moving through the state assembly. If you have the time, we encourage you to reach out to your local state senator and assembly member. Give them a call or write an email letting them know you support passing Senate Bill 712 and hope that they do too!