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- What Exactly Is Leno’s Law?
- What Does All This Have To Do With Everyday Gearheads?
- No Wiggle Room There, Huh?
Have you seen this? Have you heard of this? Leno’s Law, a bill intended to make life a little easier for car collectors on the Golden Coast, was recently rejected by California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee, the group devoted to investigating and studying proposed bills relating to fiscal concerns in the state of California. The bill was named for Jay Leno, who didn’t exactly write it, but he was a strong supporter of the law from the start.
To cover the bill in brief, the idea was to allow classic cars to skip smog tests when ownership changes hands. If you’ve ever bought a classic Dodge Charger, or even an older Toyota Camry in California, you know what a godsend this could have been. Unfortunately, California’s lawmakers must not all be car collectors, because they didn’t see any reason to pass the bill into law.
What Exactly Is Leno’s Law?
The law in California says that classic cars need to pass the emissions standards that were present at the time of their initial sale, and that you need to get 35-year-old and older cars smog checked every two years. Leno’s Law aimed to make these laws a bit more lax. To explain it simply.
- Leno’s Law (Senate Bill 712) sought to attain an exemption for certain older cars in California from bi-annual smog checks.
- Exempted cars would have been 35 years old or older.
- Exempted cars would be required to bear “historical vehicle” license plates.
- Exempted vehicles would need to be insured as collector motor vehicles.
- Leno’s Law was backed by four Democrat co-authors, and 19 Republican co-authors.
The bill had major support from California auto clubs and seller groups like the California Automotive Wholesaler’s Association. Jay Leno was the bill’s most high-profile supporter, and the hope may have been that putting the comedian front and center would have bought some goodwill among California lawmakers. That seemed to work early on, as the bill passed the state Senate and an Assembly committee with minimal opposition.
In support of the bill, Jay Leno laid out exactly what a pain in the neck it is to get a classic car road-legal in California, pointing out that it can be difficult to even find a shop with the tools needed to smog-check a classic, stating the following…