BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1615
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   June 30, 2004 

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                   Judy Chu, Chair

                    SB 1615 (Denham) - As Amended:  June 16, 2004 

          Policy Committee:                             Transportation  
          Vote:        12-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill exempts out-of-state motor vehicles that are more than  
          30 years old from Smog Check requirements when they are first  
          registered in this state.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor costs, if any, to the DMV to modify the process for  
            registering older vehicles brought in from out-of-state.   
            (Motor Vehicle Account.)

          2)Minor fee revenue loss to the Vehicle Inspection and Repair  
            Fund (VIRF), the fund that supports the Bureau of Automotive  
            Repair's (BAR's) administration of the Smog Check program,  
            resulting from fewer vehicles being subject to smog  
            certification requirements.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  This bill is sponsored by the DMV to conform the  
            smog check requirements for older out-of-state vehicles with  
            those for older in-state vehicles.  DMV notes that the 30-year  
            rolling exemption from Smog Check enacted by SB 42 (Kopp) -  
            Chapter 801, Statutes of 1997 applies only to in-state  
            vehicles.  Since the rolling exemption activated in 2003,  
            out-of-state vehicles are being treated differently than  
            in-state vehicles.  DMV is concerned that owners of  
            out-of-state vehicles seeking to register their vehicles in  
            California would have grounds for suing the department for  
            applying different standards to their vehicles.
           








                                                                 SB 1615
                                                                  Page  2

          2)Related Legislation  .  AB 2683 (Lieber), which passed off of  
            this committee's Suspense File in May and is scheduled for  
            hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee on June 29,  
            repeals the rolling 30-year exemption from Smog Check and  
            instead exempts vehicles of model year 1975 and earlier.  SB  
            1615 contains a provision that ensures that, if AB 2683 is  
            enacted, older out-of-state vehicles would be subject to the  
            same treatment as in-state vehicles.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Steve Archibald / APRO / (916) 319-2081