KeysQuestions4Vehicles2<\/p>\n
Jay Leno’s smog exemption bill just cleared the exact California committee that killed its predecessor, and this time it has something the last version didn’t: bipartisan support engineered through a classic car rally outside the Capitol.<\/p>\n
The bill would permanently exempt 1976\u20131985 vehicles from California’s smog checks forever \u2014 including at the point of sale \u2014 but there’s a delicious irony buried in the fine print that most coverage completely misses.<\/p>\n
If you own a collector car from that specific malaise-era window, this law could eliminate a recurring cost headache and actually make your car easier to sell in California’s tightest regulatory market.<\/p>\n
The story of who this law actually helps \u2014 and who it conspicuously doesn’t \u2014 is worth every paragraph.<\/p>\n
Ask The Box \u2192<\/p>\n
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Model Y vs rival?Best trimReal MPG<\/p>\n
AI-generated summary from reviews, comparisons and articles by AutoNotion<\/p>\n
Can you imagine owning 181 vehicles? If that already seems like a ton of maintenance and upkeep to you, now imagine having to get most of those vehicles to pass a smog test every few years. That\u2019s the reality that Jay Leno, talk show host and car collector, faces.<\/p>\n
Boo-hoo, I know.<\/p>\n
For years, Leno has been fighting for California car collectors<\/a> (aka himself) to get a bit of a break on smog tests. Not only do the costs add up, but many older vehicles can\u2019t even reach those smog stations or use newer smog-testing equipment. When will the tortures of owning 181 vehicles end?<\/p>\n On August 13th, the bill known as Leno\u2019s Law cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Which matters more than it sounds, because that\u2019s the exact committee that quietly strangled the last version.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a great day for California\u2019s car enthusiasts and for everyone who believes our history is worth preserving,\u201d said Senator Dave Cortese<\/a>, who wrote the bill. He added that California has a legendary automotive heritage worth celebrating while still protecting the environment.<\/p>\n Cortese is a Democrat. His coauthor, Senator Shannon Grove, is a Republican. Days before the hearing they held a classic car rally outside the Capitol with SEMA to pressure the committee, which means this smog fight has managed to unite California politics. Bipartisanship, courtesy of old cars.<\/p>\n Okay, but what does Leno\u2019s Law actually do?<\/p>\n Fair question, because \u201csmog exemption for classic cars\u201d is doing a lot of heavy lifting in most coverage.<\/p>\n Right now, California exempts gas vehicles from model year 1975 and older. Everything from 1976 on has to pass a biennial smog check, forever, no matter how pristine or how rarely it moves.<\/p>\n Autonoci\u00f3n Newsletter<\/p>\n No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy (opens in new window)<\/a><\/p>\n SB 1392 would fully exempt vehicles built before the 1981 model year, both at renewal and at sale. To qualify, the car needs a historical vehicle license plate and collector vehicle insurance. That\u2019s the screening mechanism lawmakers demanded so the thing didn\u2019t become a loophole for anyone with a smoky 1979 beater.<\/p>\n Then it expands. One model year gets added every year starting in 2028, until the cutoff reaches pre-1986 vehicles by 2032.<\/p>\n The program is completely optional, and it doesn\u2019t touch any existing exemption. If your car is already exempt, nothing changes.<\/p>\n So the actual window here is model years 1976 through 1985. Which brings me to my favorite thing about this entire saga.<\/p>\n The law barely helps Jay Leno<\/p>\n Think about what\u2019s in a collection like Leno\u2019s. Prewar classics, 1950s and 60s American iron, a Stanley Steamer, plus modern hypercars.<\/p>\n The pre-1976 stuff? Already exempt. Always has been. The McLaren F1 and the modern machinery? Nowhere near eligible.<\/p>\n What\u2019s left is the malaise era. Nineteen seventy-six through 1985. The catalytic converter years. The 165-horsepower Corvette years. Cars whose emissions equipment is now so obsolete that finding a shop that can even test them properly has become its own scavenger hunt.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the group this saves. Not the priceless stuff, the awkward stuff. The cars nobody writes love letters about, owned by people with one project car in the garage rather than 181 of them.<\/p>\n Which is genuinely the strongest argument for the bill, and also very funny, given whose name is on it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not law yet, and last year proves why<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where I temper the excitement. This is Leno\u2019s Law 2.0.<\/p>\n The first attempt, SB 712, passed the state Senate 32 to 3 in June 2025 and cleared the Assembly Transportation Committee. Then Assembly Appropriations parked it in the suspense file that August and simply never took it out. No vote, no debate, no funeral. The California Air Resources Board\u2019s own bill tracker lists it under one word: dead.<\/p>\n Cortese and Grove reintroduced it as SB 1392 in February. It passed the Senate again, cleared Assembly Transportation 13-0, and now it\u2019s gotten past the trapdoor that got the last one.<\/p>\n Still ahead: a full Assembly floor vote, a concurrence vote back in the Senate, and the governor\u2019s signature. The legislature has until the end of the month.<\/p>\n Opposition hasn\u2019t gone anywhere either. Public health and environmental groups are still against it, arguing that older vehicles pollute disproportionately even when driven rarely. Supporters counter that pre-1981 cars make up less than half a percent of vehicles on California roads, and that the collector car industry is worth over $40 billion to the state and supports roughly 150,000 jobs. Even the FIA sent a letter backing the bill, which is not a sentence I expected to write about a smog check.<\/p>\n California\u2019s car culture under attack<\/p>\n Despite being one of the capitals of car culture in the world, California has super strict vehicle laws. The state is known for low rider cruises, collector cars driving up the coast, and luxury supercar meetups. At the same time, California has spent decades passing regulations that make owning, modifying, and driving gasoline-powered vehicles more complicated.<\/p>\n The most obvious example is California\u2019s emissions program. Gasoline-powered vehicles from 1976 and newer generally fall under the state\u2019s Smog Check requirements, with inspections required for registration in applicable circumstances. Vehicles also have to meet California\u2019s emissions standards, which can make certain modifications that are perfectly legal elsewhere illegal in the Golden State.<\/p>\n Then there is the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, which has developed its own vehicle emissions and zero-emission standards under the state\u2019s special authority under the federal Clean Air Act. The rules have become increasingly ambitious, with the Advanced Clean Cars II program establishing stricter requirements for new vehicles and targeting zero-emission or plug-in hybrid vehicles in new-car sales by 2035. The state is even offering its own incentive program<\/a> for those who switch to EVs.<\/p>\n For car enthusiasts, the effect goes beyond what sits on a dealer\u2019s lot. California\u2019s emissions rules can complicate engine swaps, exhaust modifications, tuning, and other changes that are common parts of enthusiast culture. The state also has regulations governing everything from aftermarket emissions equipment to vehicle software, and modified or unapproved software can cause a vehicle to fail a Smog Check.<\/p>\n