March 8th Hearing Florida Custom Vehicle Bill

[hookedonford]

Details:

Jason Tolleson, jasont@sema.org
SEMA 202/783-6007, ext. 39



URGENT LEGISLATIVE ALERT (HEARING NOTICE)


Pro-Hobbyist Street Rod and Custom Vehicle Bill
Reintroduced in Florida; Hearing Scheduled for March 8th

SEMA model legislation to amend the vehicle titling and registration classifications for street rods and create a classification for custom vehicles has been reintroduced in the Florida House and will be considered in committee on Thurs., Mar. 8. The bill (H.B. 545) defines a street rod as an altered vehicle manufactured before 1949 and a custom as an altered vehicle at least 25 years old and manufactured after 1948. Under the bill, kit cars and replica vehicles will be assigned a certificate of title bearing the same model year designation as the production vehicle they most closely resemble. The bill mirrors model legislation created by SEMA and recently enacted in Illinois, Missouri, Rhode Island, Montana, Hawaii, Maine and Colorado.

We Urge You to Contact Members of the House Infrastructure Committee (List Below) Immediately to Request Their Support for H.B. 545

H.B. 545 provides specific registration and titling classes for street rods and customs, including kits and replicas.


H.B. 545 allows for the use of non-original materials and creates a titling criterion that assigns these vehicles the same model year designation as the production vehicle they most closely resemble.


H.B. 545 exempts street rods and customs from emissions inspections and exempt street rods and custom vehicles from a range of standard equipment requirements (only that equipment required in the model year that the vehicle resembles).


H.B. 545 provides that vehicles titled and registered as street rods and custom vehicles may only be used for occasional transportation, exhibitions, club activities, parades, tours, etc. and not for general daily transportation.


H.B. 545 permits the use of blue dot taillights on street rods and custom vehicles.
DON’T DELAY! Please contact members of the House Infrastructure Committee immediately by phone or e-mail to urge their support of H.B. 545.


House Infrastructure Committee

Rep. Mike Davis, Chair
Phone: (850) 488-1028
Email: Mike.davis@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Richard Glorioso, Vice-Chair
Phone: (850) 488-0807
Email: rich.glorioso@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Susan Bucher
Phone: (850) 488-0175
Email: susan.bucher@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Greg Evers
Phone: (850) 488-8188
Email: greg.evers@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Ed Hooper
Phone: (850) 488-1540
Email: ed.hooper@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Jimmy Patronis, Jr.
Phone: (850) 488-9696
Email: jimmy.patronis@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Scott Randolph
Phone: (850) 488-0660
Email: scott.randolph@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Michael J. Scionti
Phone: (850) 488-9460
Email: Michael.scionti@myfloridahouse.gov

Rep. Nicholas R. Thompson
Phone: (850) 488-1541
Email: Nick.thompson@myfloridahouse.gov

[SJK2]

Good Luck Floridians, We in Ct. are trying The Same.!!!

[Don]

Hookedonford:

* Refrence the CT Thread , there may be some items that will assist your effort:

Connecticut: Registration, Inspection & Emissions

* Other Considerations from our recent experience:

- Is there a legislator ( s ) that will champion the Bill
- Prior agreement with the DMV & DEP on the details of the requested Bill
- Vehicles impacted. For kit cars and replicas, CT has 337 registered vs over 3,000,000 passenger car registrations
- Limited annual mileage, not used for daily commuting
- Written testimony in addition to the Public Hearing from , businesses, Car Clubs and private citizens
- SEMA written testimony to the Committee members


...........hope this helps

[hookedonford]

Committee on Infrastructure

Total Yeas: 8 Total Nays: 0

Read link below

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sectio...5&Session=2007

Now it is in -

Economic Expansion & Infrastructure Council

[hi-tech cobra]

hookedonford,

Does this mean H.B. 545 is a done deal? If so, great work! It looks like reg/title will become easier.

Thanks,
John

P.S. I took an hour and emailed all the officails on your list the other day.

[hookedonford]

hi-tech cobra,

I wish it was a done deal, it goes through more committees. You can sign up for the SEMA Action Network (semasan.com) and they will send out the updates of which committee members need to be contacted. I am going to keep posting the updates and hopefully with united support of other forum members the bills will keep moving through the committees.

Thanks, Hooked

http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/show...839#post720839

[Don]

Following comment , posted as written, from the Hemmings Weekly e-mail update:


Warm California...smog
Boy, does this one have the hobby in California in a tizzy. California A.B. No. 616 is in the Committee on Transportation right now, and “would require the department (of Consumer Affairs) to incorporate annual inspection of motor vehicles 15 or greater model years old into the motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program by July 1, 2008, and would require funds generated through additional inspection fees to be deposited into the High Polluter Repair or Removal Account. Because violations of the smog-check program are a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.”
Any time a legislature even thinks about emissions testing for collector cars, car owners think the trumpet of doom is sounding, but it's worth taking a look at the statute in question, CA Health and Safety Code 44012.5, that the bill would amend.

41011(7)(C) already states that, “any collector motor vehicle, as defined in Section 259 of the Vehicle Code, is exempt from those portions of the test required by subdivision (f) of Section 44012 if the collector motor vehicle meets all of the following criteria: (1) Submission of proof that the motor vehicle is insured as a collector motor vehicle, as shall be required by regulation of the bureau. (2) The motor vehicle is at least 35 model-years old. (3) The motor vehicle complies with the exhaust emissions standards for that motor vehicle's class and model-year as prescribed by the department, and the motor vehicle passes a functional inspection of the fuel cap and a visual inspection for liquid fuel leaks.” A.B. 616 will not affect this section.

Further, 44013(C) says, “Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the maximum emission standards and test procedures prescribed in subdivisions (a) and (b) for a motor vehicle class and model-year shall not be more stringent than the emission standards and test procedures under which that motor vehicle's class and model-year was certified.”

Yes, it's possible that annual emissions standards for cars over 15 years old could be enacted. But this is not aimed as a blow at the hobby, but rather at the disgusting, broken-down used-car market that thrives in California's metropolitan areas. Any reasonably well-maintained collector car should be able to pass emissions test for the year in which it was built; the hard part would actually be finding a shop with that equipment, but that's another matter.

Further reading:
Vehicle Code Section 5050-5052, Collector cars: “The Legislature finds and declares that constructive leisure pursuits by California citizens is most important. This article is intended to encourage responsible participation in the hobby of collecting, preserving, restoring, and maintaining motor vehicles of historic and special interest, which hobby contributes to the enjoyment of the citizen and the preservation of California's automotive memorabilia.”
Vehicle Code Section 259: “Collector motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle owned by a collector, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 5051, and the motor vehicle is used primarily in shows, parades, charitable functions, and historical exhibitions for display, maintenance, and preservation, and is not used primarily for transportation.”
- By David B. Traver Adolphus

[imagine2frolic]

NOT FOR GENERAL DAILY TRANSPORTATION? The reason for the build is to have a daily driver. How many miles are considered a daily driver?

[hookedonford]

Hey Don,

What I found interesting was that the FL DMV had no definition or record of the number of custom vehicles, such as replica or kits -

Page 3 of this document

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sectio...5&Session=2007


Since there is no current definition for a custom vehicle, the vehicle falls under “automobiles for private use” and must currently pay a license tax from $14.50 to $32.50, depending on the weight of the vehicle. The bill allows custom vehicles to pay the $7.50 license tax, along with street rods. At a minimum, there will be a loss of $7 for every custom vehicle currently paying the lower tax for automobiles for private use, as well as a potential increase in the number of registered street rods due to the broader definition found in the bill. The Department has no record of the number of custom vehicles in the state, so the exact amount of revenue loss to the State is indeterminate. For FY 2005-06, the Department issued 1,054 street rod specialty license plates.

.

[Don]

The CT Composite count that I was able to obtain from the DMV:

CT refers to all kit cars and replicas as Composites which would include the T-Buckets etc.

The make/model within Passenger Cars such as Ford, Chevy, Dodge etc also included the Composite make

While not high tech, the DMV gave me access to a " make " listing by year , then just recorded the number of Composites for each year, as of 2-20-07, there are 337

If a hot rod or custom was an original make and year , it would/could be registered as a Ford, Chevy etc and there would be no way to determine how many were modified and then became a custom or hotrod. Especially if the modifications came after the initial registration.

The designation of Composite is sometimes discretionary, as most if not all DMV inspectors know or think every vehicle that resembles a Cobra , must be a kit. If it was a fiberglass 34 Ford, it is possible that the vehicle would get registered as a Ford, even with a replacement frame.

[hookedonford]

I like the idea of the Composite designation. I need to dig out my title and take a look at it. It would be nice if the states could play nice together and come up with common verbiage to handle kits, replicas, and street rods.