BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2461
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2461 (Emmerson)
As Amended August 12, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |71-0 |(April 26, |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 18, |
| | |2010) | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY : Extends an amnesty program for improperly registered
kit cars.
The Senate amendments :
1)Delay this bill's operative dates so that the amnesty program
would be in effect from July 1, 2011 until June 30, 2012.
2)Require a vehicle in the amnesty program to be certified as
having met smog requirements.
3)Exempt these vehicles from the visual inspection element of
smog test requirements.
4)Sunset this bill's provisions on June 30, 2012.
5)Include chaptering-out language to incorporate provisions that
are in SB 165 (Lowenthal) in the event that both this bill and
SB 165 are enacted.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles 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
AB 2461
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program.
3)Requires specially constructed vehicles that apply for amnesty
to obtain a certificate of compliance from a smog inspection
station.
AS PASSSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed in the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : The author is presenting this bill as a clean-up to
his AB 619 (Chapter 420, Statutes of 2008), which established an
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
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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,
the author notes, "the clouded legal authority surrounding the
emissions testing requirements caused months of delay making it
necessary to extend the program deadline."
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0006055