Posted on 03/17/2005 7:36:48 AM PST by SmithL
RANCHO CORDOVA - With opposition growing among Democrats statewide, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved Wednesday to shore up his environmental credentials by touting the reinstatement of a program to take older, polluting autos off the road.
With a Sacramento-area auto yard as the backdrop, Schwarzenegger announced that the state is again offering $1,000 to car owners who voluntarily retire older vehicles that cannot meet the state's smog control standards.
The goal is to take as many as 15,000 high-polluting vehicles off the road annually during the next 10 years.
"This will pay big dividends for California," the governor said at a news conference.
"Clean air makes our state a more desirable place to live, visit or locate a business."
The buyback program was suspended two years ago for budget reasons, but was re-established in September after the passage of a bill by then-Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara.
Although her bill provided $4.5 million this year for incentive payments, Schwarzenegger said he wants to increase the program's funding in 2005-06 to $16.3 million.
But the governor also noted in his press materials Wednesday that his support of the auto buyback program is just one area in which he's worked to protect the environment.
He's also called for the creation of a network of hydrogen fuel stations along major California highways.
He signed bills last year that would allow hybrid vehicles to use freeway car pool lanes; replace old diesel engines in school buses with new cleaner-burning engines; require cars built after 1975 to have smog checks every two years; and require that trucks coming into California from Mexico meet U.S. clean air standards.
Ironically, each of the bills he touted were authored by Democrats and passed despite substantial opposition from Schwarzenegger's Republican colleagues.
The governor's news conference came as labor groups and education activists protested at a Schwarzenegger fund-raiser Wednesday night in Los Angeles. Hundreds of nurses, firefighters and teachers spilled into the street outside a Century City hotel, where Schwarzenegger held a lavish fund-raiser to promote his agenda.
The opposition has been sparked by several of the governor's proposals -- including ballot measures that would privatize much of the state's public pension program and potentially cut funding for schools when tax income does not meet budget needs.
Given the growing protest from the state's majority party, some Democrats said they are not surprised Schwarzenegger wants to remind voters of his environmental record.
"If the Democrats in the Legislature are so bad, why is he taking our bills and making them part of his platform?" asked Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles.
"It's because his poll numbers are caving among Democrats and independents -- people who also support environmental issues."
Most of the illegals around here seem to drive decent cars. (You can spot them because they always obey all of the traffic laws.) Perhaps it is different in California.
Juarez, Mexico: Where all old American cars go to die.
That 1966 Buick Special does not have to pass the same test as a modern vehicle. Even in perfect tune, it will emit thousands of times more smog-forming pollutants than a ULEV vehicle. That Buick will emit more pollutants parked in a garage than a Honda Civic will emit rolling down the highway at 90 mph.
Not that you should not be allowed to keep the Buick. It's a matter of private property, after all. But the older vehicles are the "low hanging fruit" of pollution control. For every dollar spent taking a clunker off the street, you would have to pay hundreds of dollars to improve already good pollution controls in modern cars to get the same reduction in smog-forming pollutants.
Frankly, my only quibble with the program is that it is so niggardly in how much it will pay. The State of California should be willing to pay the equivalent cost of the controls they are imposing on everyone else to remove clunkers from the roads. If the State of California is going to force a thousand new car buyers to pay $500 each to pay for all the fancy ULEV equipment to remove the same pollutants as junking one 1956 Nash Rambler, then that Rambler should be worth $500,000 to the State of California. But, of course, they are far more willing to spend your money than their own...
You're thinking like me. But I think it has to be registered in California. I suspect you cannot import "grandfathered" cars in.
There are a lot of cases where old cars that have gotten very good maintenance pass the emmissions exams in flying colors.
One of the biggest sources of air pollution in the Mexico City basin are the old "beater" cars that see no maintenance. At one point the air in Mexico City was like a 3 pack a day habit. Makes me wonder how the 1 hour cycling records at the Mexico City velodrome were even possible.
What a dumb$#!T
Layoff teachers, boost class size to 40+ and then spend millions on old junker cars.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
""If the Democrats in the Legislature are so bad, why is he taking our bills and making them part of his platform?""
Because he is a RINO... DUH!
Bad news for the old car hobby. Lots of good rust free '67-'69 Camaros, Roadrunners and such went to the scrap heap in the late '80's and early '90's.when the state was offering $750 for each car whether it ran or not.
Hot rod magazine saved a rust fre '67 camaro via a buy back program and built it up and called it the "Crusher Camaro"
Awnold, why don't you get rid your fleet of 6 hummers and show that mean to cut pollution??
He is Rino. Elitist Bastard.
The Buick is actually long gone, about 15 years now (we all stood on the front lawn sobbing when they took it away, my folks had had it so long it was like a family pet :lol:).
But when they had it it had more than passed whatever the standard NY emission test was at the time - no special treatment because of it's age at that time.
Things have probably changed since then but at the time it was treated like any other car.
LQ
Up here in Wisconsin, illegals cars are junkers
The two rolling chassis I just shipped out to the desert to store are both worth well over a grand.
Smog testing was one of the first things Jeb got rid of when he became governor in FLA. Right then and there, I knew he would do good.
Hey, I have an '83 Toyota 4x4 that just bit the dust and couldn't pass smog with a $1000 worth of fixes. I would have to rebuild the motor. Selling it is a pain because in CA the seller is responsible to ensure it passes smog, not the buyer. I was considering selling the whole thing as "parts only". From what I understand that is the only way to get away from the requirement for the truck to pass smog.
Anyone have a link to how to apply for this? I couldn't find it on the CA state website.
There's a state program to pay for their car insurance already once they have the Cedillo-Schwarzenkennedy shiny new drivers licenses, is there going to be a program to buy ILLEGAL aliens late model cars? No doubt funded by fines paid by citizens who can't afford anyting but an old car!
One of the things I hate most about the current registration program in the Republic of Kaliforniastan is that they have it all backwards, IMO. I drive a 2002 Avalanche and paid $375 to register it this year. This is for a vehicle that doesn't require smog testing yet, so it amounts to a property tax based on the value of the vehicle. I believe the fees on my neighbors 1990 mustang were $79 this year.
Instead of taxing new vehicles which tend to pollute less, the DMV should charge lower fees up front and increase over the life of the vehicle thereby encouraging owners to replace them more often, getting the older, dirtier models off the road. Make it too expensive to own a junker.
The obvious problem here is that this makes too much sense and doesn't take antique vehicles into account. Ok, no problem. If an owner sticks it out for the 20 or 25 years it takes for a vehicle to claim antique status, reassess the fees based on the value of the vehicle and the number of miles driven per year (assuming that you aren't gonna risk your "baby" on the road that often).
Just my $0.02
Mexico City had a smog problem long before the invention of the automobile. It looks bad when you visit and see the traffic, but it would still be bad even without the cars.
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