Leno's Law

[Bitsyncmaster]

Today, September 16, 2026, Leno?s Law has officially been signed into California law! 🇺🇸🏁

This is good news for all owners. Hope it spreads to all states.

[WHO1DMC]

At least it's a start for California. It will be a few years before the first D owners start to get any benefit.
I'm in Minnesota and there's no smog or inspection. I hope that doesn't change.





Dave B.

[mike123]

If I read correctly, the mileage restrictions are pretty rough (less than 1000 miles driven per year). Maybe that is easy for a Model A to stay under, but for something like a DeLorean which is still a reasonable everyday car, it's a big obstacle. Not sure how they monitor it but if there are annual inspections that record the odometer, I can foresee some angle drives "accidentally" breaking.

[Rich]

It's a big milestone for DeLoreans in California.

There are two ways to exempt our 1981-1983 cars from passing smog after this new law kicks in: if it's insured as a collector car OR driven <1,000 mi/year.

Both of those criteria are written generally. The precise interpretations are left up to the CA Bureau of Automotive Repair.

We'll need to wait for the BAR to sort out the new procedures.

Initial relief becomes possible after Jan. 1, 2029 for the oldest DeLoreans (1981s).

See this article (https://www.thedrive.com/news/lenos-law-finally-passes-heres-what-that-really-means-for-classic-car-owners) for some of the details. Here's a link to the text of the law (https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB1392/id/3371510) if you want to see ALL of the details.

It could have been worse...

[Helirich]

No checks in FL either, but I believe you?re supposed to have everything working. I think they should exempt everything 30 years or older. The percentage of vehicles on the road after 30 years has got to be very small.

[Timeless]

No checks in FL either, but I believe you?re supposed to have everything working. I think they should exempt everything 30 years or older. The percentage of vehicles on the road after 30 years has got to be very small.
Not around my parts. Plenty of 30+ year old Porsches, Volvos, etc... driving around. My 928 was used all the time and it is 33 years old. Heck D owners here drive year round and I daily use 1 of mine.

[Chris4099]

No checks in FL either, but I believe you?re supposed to have everything working.

You are correct and what a lot of people get wrong about emission checks. Just because your state either no longer checks or never checked tail pipe emissions during the registration process, doesn't mean the requirements are gone. For example, my state doesn't check my brakes or brake lights, but I still need to have them in working order. Removing or bypassing the catalytic converter on a vehicle driven on a public road is a violation of federal law (Clean Air Act), regardless of whether your state checked/tested it during the last registration. For the blatant violations (such as visible smoke or missing cat) you could get ticketed by the police, just like a ticket for a missing plate or no working headlights.

Fortunately where I'm at, our testing process isn't broken like what California's appears to be. I can easily get my D emission checked and I only have to pay the testing fee once I pass. Since my D is in normal operating order, it easily meets or exceeds the requirements of any other 1981 passenger vehicle and I pass every time.

[AugustneverEnds]

Surprisingly, for New York, cars 25 years and older are exempt from emissions testing. You do still have to have a yearly safety inspection done, lights and brakes really. There is no mileage limit, so I hope that doesn't become part of the deal here.