46 Legislators Urge Halt in Smog Check II

California’s controversial Smog Check II program should be suspended until Jan. 1, 1998, to give the Legislature time to draft a better plan, a letter signed by 46 state legislators says.

“Information from within the Department of Consumer Affairs and information provided from private sources leads us to believe that Smog Check II has many problems and gaps that need to be addressed,” the legislators said in the letter delivered Thursday to the state Bureau of Automotive Repair.

But a bureau spokesman, Bob Brown, replied that “suspending the program is not an option” because of “the draconian sanctions California faces from the federal government” if the air pollution reduction program is halted.

“If we don’t meet federal standards, we face sanctions such as alternating drive days and the loss of billions of federal dollars,” he said. “We don’t have the ability or authority to suspend the program.”

Smog Check II has sparked widespread criticism, including a rally organized by two San Francisco radio stations that brought an estimated 3,000 protesters to the state Capitol last month.

But program supporters, including Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco), accused the talk show hosts of spreading unfounded rumors and inflaming passions in an effort to increase ratings.

The Legislature enacted the smog program in 1994 to meet tougher federal clean air standards, and enforcement is set to begin next year. Smog Check II specifically targets so-called gross polluter vehicles, the worst 10% of cars, which are blamed for half of California’s vehicular pollution.

An owner of a gross polluter car could be compelled to make up to $450 in repairs to obtain a waiver to operate it for no more than two additional years.

Cars labeled as gross polluters cannot be registered or legally driven until they are repaired or granted waivers.

The program also had provisions, not yet finalized, for the state to buy cars that cannot pass Smog Checks or to impound them. A follow-up measure this year would repeal the impound authority.

Other criticisms of the program include complaints of extremely long delays in getting inspections and charges that tests were designed to remove far more than the targeted 10% of the worst polluters from the road.