AB 1263

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law, the Automotive Repair Act, provides for the registration and regulation of automotive repair dealers by the Bureau of Automotive Repair in the Department of Consumer Affairs. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor unless otherwise specified. Existing law authorizes the Director of Consumer Affairs to adopt and enforce those rules and regulations that the director determines are reasonably necessary to carry out the purposes of the act and declare the policy of the bureau. Existing law subjects the bureau to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, as specified, and requires that review to be performed as if the act were scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2024. This bill would extend the above-described date to January 1, 2028. (2) Existing law defines "automotive repair dealer" for purposes of the Automotive Repair Act to mean a person who, for compensation, engages in the business of repairing or diagnosing malfunctions of motor vehicles. This bill would amend that definition to additionally include a person who engages in the business of collecting compensation for automotive repair services that are referred or sublet to someone other than the dealer or their employees. (3) Existing law prohibits a person required to have a valid registration under the Automotive Repair Act from having the benefit of a lien for labor or materials or the right to sue on a contract for motor vehicle repairs unless the person possesses a valid registration. This bill would authorize the Bureau of Automotive Repair to adopt regulations to carry out that prohibition as necessary. (4) Existing law requires the Director of Consumer Affairs to adopt regulations that prescribe the equipment and other qualifications as a condition to licensing a station as an official station for adjusting lamps or brakes and to prescribe the qualifications of adjusters employed in those stations. Existing law requires a licensed adjuster in a licensed station to issue a certificate of adjustment when requested by the owner or driver of the vehicle if the adjuster determines that the lamps or the brakes of the vehicle conform with the applicable requirements of law. Under existing law, a violation of the provisions regulating lamp and brake adjusting stations is an infraction. Existing law requires the Director of Consumer Affairs to issue vehicle safety systems inspection licenses to stations and technicians to conduct inspections of, and repairs to, safety systems of vehicles. Existing law requires the director to develop inspection criteria and standards for specific safety systems and components of the vehicle in order to promote the safe and uniform installation, maintenance, and servicing of vehicle safety systems and components. Existing law requires the director to adopt regulations by January 1, 2024, including, but not limited to, the application fee and process for applicants and the certification process for vehicles, as specified. Existing law provides that the vehicle safety systems inspection license replaces licenses issued pursuant to the existing provisions governing the licensure of lamp and brake adjusting stations and adjusters and repeals those provisions on the effective date of the new regulations. Existing law provides that licenses and certificates issued pursuant to those repealed provisions remain valid for 6 months after the adoption of those regulations. This bill would instead repeal those provisions 6 months after the effective date of the new regulations and would also provide that licenses and certificates issued pursuant to those repealed provisions remain valid for 6 months after the effective date of the new regulations. The bill would make conforming changes. By extending the operation of those provisions regulating lamp and brake adjusting stations, the violation of which is an infraction, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law requires the Bureau of Automotive Repair and other state licensing entities to disclose on the internet certain information related to enforcement actions the state licensing entity has taken against its licensees, including auto repair dealers, smog stations, lamp and brake stations, smog check technicians, and smog inspection certification stations. This bill would change the list of licensees within the bureau for this purpose to instead include automotive repair dealers, smog check stations, smog check inspectors and repair technicians, and vehicle safety systems inspection stations and technicians. (6) Existing law establishes a motor vehicle inspection and maintenance (smog check) program, developed, implemented, and administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs. The smog check program provides for the inspection of all motor vehicles, except those specifically exempted from the program, upon registration, biennially upon renewal of registration, upon transfer of ownership, and in certain other circumstances. Existing law requires the department to implement a program to test a portion of the state vehicle fleet registered in an enhanced program area, as specified, at test-only facilities and authorizes the department to implement the program through privately operated test-only facilities pursuant to contracts to be awarded pursuant to specified requirements. This bill would revise and recast this program by, among other things, deleting provisions relating to the contracting of test-only facilities. The bill would also require certain vehicles included for testing in the program to be tested by referee facilities or a similar contracted inspection network established by the department. The bill would authorize a referee to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of performing inspections of those vehicles. The bill would make other conforming changes for these purposes. (7) Existing law authorizes smog tests to include certain test methods and requires the department to implement testing using onboard diagnostic systems, in lieu of loaded mode dynamometer or 2-speed idle testing, only on model year 2000 and newer vehicles, beginning no earlier than January 1, 2013, and otherwise authorizes the Department of Consumer Affairs, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to determine the appropriate test procedures, as specified. This bill would, beginning no earlier than January 1, 2025, also require the department to implement testing using onboard diagnostic systems, in lieu of the above-described test methods, only on model year 1996–1999 vehicles. (8) Existing law requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to provide for smog check technicians to be qualified for different categories of motor vehicle inspection based on vehicle classification and model-year. This bill would provide that, for purposes of the provisions of relating to the smog check program, the term "qualified smog check technician" refers to both smog check technicians and smog check inspectors. (9) Existing law requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to develop a program for the voluntary certification of licensed smog check stations, or to accept a smog check station certification program proposed by accredited industry representatives, for the purpose of providing consumers, whose vehicles fail an emissions test at a test-only facility, an option of services at a single location for vehicle certification, as specified. Existing law requires smog check stations that seek voluntary certification under this program to enter into an agreement with the department to provide certain repair services. This bill would delete the stated purpose of the program. The bill would authorize, rather than require, a smog check station that seeks voluntary certification under the program to enter into the above-described agreement. The bill would also require certain vehicles required by the department to obtain a certificate of compliance each year in enhanced program areas or in basic program areas to receive their certificate from smog check stations certified under this program rather than from a test-only facility. (10) Existing law requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to compile and maintain statistical and emissions profiles and data from motor vehicles that are subject to the motor vehicle inspection program and, in cooperation with the State Air Resources Board, to perform analyses of that data and report the results to the public on an annual basis. This bill would instead require the department, in cooperation with the state board, to report the results of those analyses on a biennial basis. (11) Existing law requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to revoke the license of any smog check technician or station licensee who fraudulently certifies vehicles or participates in the fraudulent inspection of vehicles. Under existing law, a fraudulent inspection includes clean piping, as defined by the department. This bill would provide that a fraudulent inspection, for purposes of this provision, includes clean plugging, clean glassing, clean tanking, or any other fraudulent inspection practice, as defined by the department. (12) Existing law authorizes a fleet owner, as defined, to operate a facility, licensed by the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, to inspect and maintain fleet vehicles. Existing law prohibits such a licensed facility from certifying the adjustment of lamps or brakes or the installation, inspection, repair, or servicing of motor vehicle pollution control devices or systems, except for vehicles in the licensee's own fleet. This bill would instead prohibit a licensed fleet inspection and maintenance facility from certifying vehicle safety systems or the installation, inspection, repair, or servicing of motor vehicle pollution control devices or systems, except for vehicles in the licensee's own fleet. (13) Existing law prohibits the subsequent registration of a vehicle that has been reported as a total loss salvage vehicle or dismantled vehicle until certain documentation, including an official lamp and brake adjustment certificate, has been submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles. This bill would, instead of an official lamp and brake adjustment certificate, require the submission of a vehicle safety systems certificate of compliance to the department before the subsequent registration of a total loss salvage vehicle or dismantled vehicle, as specified. (14) Existing law prohibits a person from violating a written promise to correct or willfully failing to deliver proof of correction of a correctable motor vehicle equipment violation. Existing law provides that proof or correction can be certified by a peace officer, the Department of Motor Vehicles, a court clerk, a licensed lamp and brake adjusting station, or a licensed smog inspection station, as specified. This bill would, instead of certification by a licensed lamp and brake adjusting station, authorize proof of correction for certain violations to be provided by a station licensed or contracted to certify vehicle safety systems, as specified. (15) Existing law prohibits a dealer or person holding a retail seller's permit from selling a new or used vehicle that is not in compliance with specified statutes and regulations, unless the vehicle is sold to another dealer, for the purpose of being legally wrecked or dismantled, or for off-highway use exclusively. This bill would require a salvage vehicle rebuilder, when selling a total loss salvage vehicle, to provide the purchaser with a valid vehicle safety systems certificate of compliance, as specified, prior to, or at the time of, delivery for sale, unless the vehicle is sold to a dealer or for the purpose of being legally wrecked or dismantled. The bill would make findings and declarations of the Legislature. (16) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (17) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 27 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 373 to be operative only if this bill and SB 373 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.