Read SB708

On April 23, 2003 SB708 was changed from a bill to delete the biennial smog exemption for 66-73 vehicles into a smoking vehicles bill. To read the amended bill go to the link below, select legislation, key in SB708 and click on search. Read the bill.

California Senate

This bill does the following:

• Increases the fines for smoking vehicles
• Expands funding for the Bureau of Automotive Repairs Consumer Assistance Program to include help for low income vehicle owners that either fail their smog check or fail the vehicle inspection and have been given a notice to correct.
• It expands the authority of county governments to set up combined "Driving Under The Influence (DUI)" and "Vehicle Inspection" check points.
• The smoking vehicles part of the bill is already in law in Vehicle 27153 and 27153.5. To read the vehicle code section, go to the above California Website, click on legislation, click on code, check Vehicle Code and Click on Search. Do not enter anything for keyword. The table of contents for the vehicle code appears. Scroll down to 27153, click and read.
• The core of this bill relies on the Ringelmann Smoke Chart

While this may work well with smoke stacks, the chart has many limitations. The user must be well trained. The article says it would be questionable to express smoke levels in fractional units because of variation in physical conditions and the judgement of the operators. My objections to this bill are two in nature:

• Use of this chart in a highway vehicle inspection is highly subjective, relies on the expertise of the operator, and its applicability to older vehicles (horseless carriage as an example) is questionable
• Given that the State of California is in a $35 Billion Deficit, there is no money for this expansion. Who gets defunded in order to fund the expanded Consumer Assistance Program and the County Combined Vehicle Inspection and DUI Stops?