Smog Check Change Sought

New car owners would not have to take their vehicles in for a smog check for six years under a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, although, as part of the bargain, they would be charged twice as much in annual air pollution fees.

The governor’s proposal would add two years to the current four-year smog check exemption for new cars. But in exchange, owners would have to pay $12 annually to the state during those six years -- twice the current $6 exemption fee. Motorists would still be required to obtain smog checks on their vehicles every other year afterward.

The proposal, supported in principle by car dealers, is intended to add money to the state budget for a financially imperiled program that repairs or replaces heavily polluting diesel trucks and farm equipment. The governor is asking legislators to approve the proposal as part of the budget.

“This is an aggressive step toward our goal of greatly reducing air pollution in California,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement Tuesday. “This plan cuts costs to consumers and relieves them from the burden of unnecessary smog checks while improving air quality for all Californians by reducing harmful emissions from high-polluting diesel engines.”

The proposal would save consumers money in the short run, because it would allow 1.7 million cars a year to avoid one round of smog checks -- at a cost of $57 per car, Schwarzenegger administration officials noted.

In addition, the proposal would exempt sellers from smog checks for used cars less than five years old, a change that would affect 669,000 vehicles per year. The current law requires a valid smog check certificate for all used cars.

Overall, state officials estimate, the changes would save consumers $48.5 million a year.

Environmental groups have mixed feelings about the proposal, however. Saving the program aimed at diesel engines, known as the Carl Moyer program, is one of their priorities this year in Sacramento. But delaying smog checks would actually increase air pollution, they contend. Some environmentalists argued that the program should be funded in part by polluting businesses and not solely by consumers.

“It’s important to find a permanent source of money for the Carl Moyer program, but we are troubled by the use of smog check money to fund this,” said Patricia Monahan, a policy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Instead of making the polluters pay for this, targeting diesel engine owners, or putting a fee on diesel fuel, the program is being funded by everyone through smog check.”

Brian Maas, government affairs director for the California Motor Car Dealers Assn., said, “You can make a good case that consumers are getting a good deal, and it’s not really going to hurt the environment.

“Most new cars pass the smog check anyway. And even if a newer Toyota Camry were to fail, it’s not going to fail by much.”

The proposal would raise about $61 million a year for a slight expansion of the Carl Moyer program, which has provided grant money to make more than 5,000 old diesel engines cleaner since its inception in 1998.

The program is highly regarded by industry groups and environmentalists, and is considered one of the most cost-effective strategies for cleaning the state’s air. But it has been financed with state bonds and is close to running out of money.

“We are considering this as a down payment. It keeps a bleeding, dying program alive,” said Jose Carmona, a lobbyist for the environmental group Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, which has been backing fee increases to scrap old vehicles, including a wholesale levy on gasoline.

Schwarzenegger’s proposal also would provide nearly $7 million annually for an existing program run by the Bureau of Automotive Repair that helps low-income Californians pay for smog-related vehicle fixes.

Environmentalists were alarmed by estimates showing that pushing back the smog check requirement for two years would result in more than three tons of air pollution a year. But state officials estimated that continuing to finance the incentive programs would more than offset those gains, reducing air pollution by more than 30 tons a year.