BILL ANALYSIS AB 2461 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 19, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair AB 2461 (Emmerson) - As Amended: April 8, 2010 SUBJECT : Vehicle registration amnesty SUMMARY : Extends an amnesty program for improperly registered kit cars. Specifically, this bill : 1)Extends, until December 31, 2011, a program that requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to grant amnesty from criminal action to vehicles that have been registered previously or classified incorrectly and are subsequently correctly registered. 2)Requires, as part of the process for becoming correctly registered, that the vehicle meet the inspection and maintenance tailpipe emission requirements, as tested by the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR), for the model year assigned in the amnesty application. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires DMV to develop and administer a vehicle registration amnesty program, which is to be in effect from January 1, 2010, until December 31, 2010, for vehicles that have been previously registered or classified incorrectly and that are subsequently correctly registered. 2)Provides, with certain exceptions, that a criminal action for false statements relating to the value, make, model, or a failure to register the vehicle may not be brought against a current vehicle owner who participates in that amnesty program. 3)Requires specially constructed vehicles that apply for amnesty to obtain a certificate of compliance from a smog inspection station. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : The author is presenting this bill as a clean-up to his AB 619 (Chapter 420, Statutes of 2008), which established an AB 2461 Page 2 amnesty program for improperly titled or registered specially constructed vehicles (kit cars). AB 619 was intended to respond to widespread instances of fraudulent titling that were under investigation by the California Attorney General. Several businesses had been prosecuted for providing vehicle owners with false information which allowed vehicles to be undervalued for registration purposes, resulting in the assessment of lower registration and sales tax fees. Owners of "kit cars" and "hot rods," which have been built or substantially modified by the owner, were being registered as the year of the vehicle sought to replicate using a fraudulent title or other paperwork. This resulted in an avoidance of smog requirements as well as lower sales tax and vehicle license fee assessments. This bill would extend the amnesty program, currently scheduled to sunset at the end of this year, for one additional year. It has previously been estimated that the program will bring in over $385 million in additional revenues to the state. This bill also specifies an inspection procedure for vehicles seeking to participate in the program. The author reports that, under current law, "BAR does not feel they have the authority to implement the (Air Resources Board) recommended procedure for testing amnesty vehicles which involves conducting a tailpipe emissions smog test at the level current model year vehicles are required to meet. BAR believes their system requires a full visual examination which looks for all the emissions equipment present on a new vehicle. The (kit cars) entering the amnesty program are produced from a variety of parts and equipped with engines never designed to meet current model year emissions standards. However, a retrofit kit has been developed that will allow this population of vehicles to meet current year smog standards. The package of parts developed for this application is modular and slightly different for each vehicle making it impossible to compare any of these vehicles to current year production original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vehicle. With this in mind, all interested agencies and private sector advocates support a tailpipe only examination of the vehicles as this will truly determine if the vehicle has been brought into compliance." In regard to the extension of the program's sunset extension, AB 2461 Page 3 the author notes, "the clouded legal authority surrounding the emissions testing requirements caused months of delay making it necessary to extend the program deadline." REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support California State Association of Counties (CSAC) Opposition None received Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093