A new provision helped the bill easily get through the California Senate, with the governor's signature finally turning it into law.
UPDATE 9/17/26: This story has been updated to reflect that Bill 1392 has officially been signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
UPDATE 9/4/26: This story has been updated to show that Bill 1392 successfully passed in the California Senate with a bipartisan 49-4 vote. The bill will now be sent to California Governor Gavin Newsom for consideration before being signed into law.
The classic car community has another chance at passing the emissions exemption bill, popularly lauded as "Leno's Law." Introduced to the California legislature on February 20, 2026, California Senate Bill 1392 brings back Leno's Law after the original version, California Senate Bill 712, failed to pass into law last year.
The new bill is co-sponsored by Senators Shannon Grove and Dave Cortese. As before, Bill 1392 aims to carve out emissions testing exemptions for classic vehicles on a rolling basis, starting with 1981-model-year vehicles. While the last bill required cars to be registered as a collector motor vehicle to get the exemption, the new bill adds another provision. In an attempt to sway legislators, the new bill requires that, in addition to collector status, classic cars would not be used as the owner's primary mode of transportation.
"SB 1392, Leno’s Law, is a collaborative effort between Senator Cortese, Senator Grove, Jay Leno, a growing list of legislators in strong support, and SEMA. It has been refined from last year's SB 712 to maximize benefits to car enthusiasts while also ensuring the bill's ultimate success.
Source link
