Reply to "new smog law in california"

Below is my tweak to the letter above, sent to my CA representative and LA Times letter section. Now that the state is in such bad financial shape, the legislative bodies are looking for anything that makes them look good. Remember, they rarely ever really care about an issue, they only care about giving the "appearance" that they are doing good. In the case with SB 708, they are only attempting to give the appearance they are doing some good.

Sample sent:

As one of your constituents, I urge you to oppose SB 708. This piece of legislation threatens to harm an important hobby among thousands of residents. As you probably know, there are many California residents whose passion for older antique automobiles is threatened by this bill. Antique automobiles make up an important part of their lives and livelihoods.

Most of my friends own antique cars that would be threatened by this bill, and have already made it clear they would simply take their cars off the road, and claim them as no operational to the DMV if this becomes law. It is important to note that once this occurs, the state will experience a great reduction in revenue from the loss of vehicle registration fees. It is a shame that the state is even considering this bill with over a 30 billion dollar budget deficit currently at hand.

It is well known that collector cars are seldom driven by their owners, some much less than 500 miles per year. They are used for occasional pleasure drives, parades or club events. Although we all are interested in having cleaner air in our state, this must be balanced with the unnecessary hardship it will place on owners of collector cars, coupled with the decreased revenue the state will receive as a result when these beautiful cars are taken off the road by owners and placed in garages like trophies. It is just not worth it, nor does it make sense to impose this law on older collector cars that are seldom on the road anyway. The current smog law on the books is already sufficient, as it exempts cars 30 or more years old. It serves no purpose to change the law to exempt cars that are 45 years or more old.

I respectfully request that you reject the pending legislation. This bill will not assist in cleaning the air. It will only assist to elevate the budget deficit, and create disgruntled collector car owners who are passionate about their cars and their hobby.