By Steven Symes 
Leno’s Law, the piece of legislation backed by Jay Leno that would’ve waived smog checks for classic cars, is officially dead. We thought it was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape known as California, especially with so many politicians there deciding internal combustion engines are literally killing the planet.
Carjackings in Washington, DC have dropped 87 percent.
The final death rattle of the push to give classic car owners a break in the Golden State came on August 29 when the Assembly Appropriations Committee blocked Senator Shannon Grove’s (R, Bakersfield) Senate Bill 712 from advancing for a full vote in the California Senate.
Even better, as Cal Matters reports, Buff Wicks (D, Oakland) who is the head of the committee, didn’t even say why the bill was killed by her and other powerful Democrats who sit on the committee.
The final insult came when reporters asked Wicks why her committee killed Leno’s Law. To that she replied, “I’ll have to go back and look. I don’t remember.” In other words, she doesn’t care to explain why the popular measure was killed.
Everyone knows why this bill was killed: the party that controls California has waged open warfare on any car that burns gasoline. That means your classic ride is public enemy number one.
We were skeptical this bill would ever be passed into law. After all, California is the same state which has been leading the charge with EV mandates and even talking about banning not only the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engines, but the operation of them on public roads.
While that might be fantasy talk for now, that was how the EV mandates began, so anything is possible at this point.
What this latest move signals is that if you’re a classic car owner and love the hobby, but you happen to reside in California, now is the time to make your exit. Just remember, if you’re a gearhead and you do leave the Golden State, don’t bring the political mess you left along with you. Vote differently if in the past you’ve supported the nonsense which has led to this aggressive push against your beloved hobby.
Image via Jay Leno’s Garage/YouTube
Unlike most folks, Jay can afford to pack up his entire inventory and move his operation out of the state.
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
[…] about the demise of the law in an Op-Ed on Auto Wire, Steven Symes vented that potential passage “was too good to be true in the regulatory hellscape […]
This isn’t an aggressive push on our beloved hobby. This is authoritarianism writ large. Another message being sent loud and clear that the non-woke are unwelcome here. But then again, since the numbers of law enforcement officers have dwindled so precipitously under the same woke rulership, the odds of being stopped and fined for expired tags on your vintage car that failed its smog check are about as likely as being struck by lightning. F ’em. Vintage car owners in California can thumb their noses at the smog “law” just like all the other Californicators already do with a million other much more critical unenforced laws. Take illegal immigration for instance.