Calif Bay Area smog update

["Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@domain.elided>]

An item in the SF Chronicle today said the Smog II program is going into
effect in the "San Francisco Bay Area Basin," which will require enhanced
smog-check facilities (dynos?) and test-only stations, among other things
including new fines for violations.  This law is AB 2637 (incorrectly
reported by the Chron as AB 2537), enacted as 2002 Calif. Statutes
Chaptered Bill 1001 if anyone's interested in reading it (go to
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/01-02/bill/asm/ab_2601-2650/ab_
2637_bill_20020927_chaptered.pdf to see it).  This act has complicated
"yielder" provisions related to Sacramento, Yolo/Solano, and San Joaquin
Valley air district lawsuits against the Bay Area Air Quality Management
District for contributing to/causing their smog (more exactly, those
districts' inability to meet their standards).

Opinions about the reality or effectiveness of these allegations, suits,
and politics aside, what it means is that the Bay Area Smog II program
will go into effect only if the suits against BAAQMD were dropped by the
other districts by Oct. 4, 2002, certified by the courts, and filed with
the Calif. Sec. of State.  I don't know if that happened on schedule.  
Standards for implementing the program are to be established by Jan. 1,
2004, so I doubt we'll see anything happen before then (at which point,
if existing law continues unchanged, my 1974 GTV will become exempt;
whew).

None of this alters the standing Calif. state requirements and
exemptions, which were discussed a few weeks ago, about 1973 and earlier
cars being exempt from transfer and biennial checks now, and post-1974
cars becoming exempt a year at a time starting in 2004.

Andrew Watry
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