‘Leno’s Law’ Aims to Relax Smog Rules for California Classic Cars

• California Senate Bill 712 aims to expand emissions exemptions to vehicles at least 35 years old.

• The exemptions require the car to be insured as a collector car.

• One of the bill’s biggest backers is Jay Leno, to the point that it’s been called “Leno’s Law”.

Being a classic car enthusiast in the state of California is something of a double-edged sword. On one hand, there are seemingly endless shows and meets, the weather is great, and there’s always another barn find just waiting to be dug up out of the cobwebs and brought back to glory. On the other hand, forever idling in traffic isn’t great, and getting an old car through emissions regulations can be tough. There’s no solution on the horizon for the first part of that problem, but for the latter, there’s maybe a chance that things could get a little easier.

What Is “Leno’s Law”?

California Senate Bill 712, set to go before the state’s transportation committee next month, aims to provide a smog-testing exemption for cars built in 1990 and earlier. It can’t just be a daily driver, either, but a vehicle insured as a collector car, and one of the biggest names in California car collection has put his weight behind the issue. In fact, SB-712 has picked up the nickname “Leno’s Law,” as Jay Leno has been outspoken about the need to relax emissions regulations for classic cars.

California already had such an exemption in place back when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, a rolling 30-year exemption for older cars. This was pushed to the current pre-1976 regulation in 2005.

The average age of a car in the United States is between 12 and 14 years old, so cars that are more than 30 years old are only a small segment of what’s on the road. Especially if insured as a collector car, as few of these machines are doing the kind of mileage that would have a measurable environmental impact. A vehicle that’s at least 35 years old is already exempt from certain portions of the existing emissions test; the proposed bill just extends things to full exemption.

At the same time, classic car enthusiasm supports a host of industries in California, everything from big-dollar restomod companies to mom-and-pop upholstery shops. About 14 percent of businesses in the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) are based in California, and California-based enthusiasts order replacement and refurbished parts from other shops all across the U.S. It’s a multi-billion-dollar slice of the economy.

In neighboring Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona, a host of emissions regulations are more relaxed and often have exemptions built in for collector cars. In Nevada, for instance, there are special registration categories for collector vehicles, and many of them are exempt from emissions testing if driven less than 5000 miles per year.

Broadly, SB-712 appeals to common sense that would make life a lot easier for classic car owners in California. It can be tricky to get a European- or Japanese-market import through the emissions tests as they are written, and some shops will simply turn away older cars, as their technicians may not be trained on older smog compliance equipment. With the exemptions in place, keeping an older car on the road requires less red tape. Instead, all you need to worry about is getting up on time to make that early Sunday AM Cars and Coffee.

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