Overview

• On August 29, the Assembly Appropriations Committee held SB712, a move that prevents the bill from reaching a floor vote and effectively ends it for this session.
• SB712 sought a rolling exemption from biennial smog checks for vehicles 35 years or older and had bipartisan Senate support along with backing from Senator Shannon Grove, Jay Leno, and SEMA.
• Lawmakers narrowed the proposal in June by requiring historic plates and later limiting eligibility to vehicles built between 1981 and 1986, but the amendments failed to change its fate.
• Environmental and public-health groups opposed the measure as a setback to clean-air protections, while state officials estimated roughly 17,500 annual exemption requests if it had passed.
• California’s fixed pre-1976 exemption remains in place for now, with a separate federal bill, H.R. 4117, introduced in June and positioned to preempt state emissions standards if enacted.