Virginia Bill to Exempt Antique Vehicles from Exhaust System Restrictions Approved by House; Moves to Senate

URGENT LEGISLATIVE ALERT (UPDATE)

Legislation (H.B. 741) that originally sought to allow Virginia’s antique vehicle hobbyists to install and use aftermarket exhaust systems was amended in committee and approved by the Virginia House of Delegates. Under the amended bill, antique vehicles would remain exempt from the requirement that they have exhaust systems of a type installed as standard factory equipment, or comparable to that designed for use on the particular vehicle as standard factory equipment. However, they would continue to be required to be “in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual levels of noise.” While we find that this is only a marginal improvement over the current law and still provides no real objective noise standard, we still think it’s worth supporting. The bill will now be sent to the Senate Transportation Committee for consideration.

Please Consider Contacting Members of the Virginia Senate Transportation Committee (List Below) to Request Their Support for H.B. 741

Under Virginia law, an antique motor vehicle is every motor vehicle which was actually manufactured or designated by the manufacturer as a model manufactured in a calendar year not less than 25 years prior to January 1 of each calendar year and is owned solely as a collector's item.
H.B. 741 still remedies the enforcement policy currently used by police officers in which nearly all exhaust systems not of a type installed as standard factory equipment are considered illegal.
H.B. 741 still recognizes that factory replacement parts or comparables are not always readily available for antique motor vehicles.
H.B. 741 still does not provide for an objective noise testing program or decibel limit and leaves enforcement largely in the hands of individual law enforcement officers

Please contact members of Virginia Senate Transportation Committee by phone or e-mail to request their support for H.B. 741.

Please e-mail a copy of your letter to Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org. Also, please forward this Alert to your fellow car enthusiasts. Urge them to join the SAN and help defend the hobby! Thank you for your assistance.

Virginia Senate Transportation Committee

To e-mail all Committee members, copy and paste the email address block below:

district25@senate.virginia.gov; district16@senate.virginia.gov; district23@senate.virginia.gov; district10@senate.virginia.gov; district38@senate.virginia.gov; district07@senate.virginia.gov; district04@senate.virginia.gov; district19@senate.virginia.gov; district01@senate.virginia.gov; district37@senate.virginia.gov; district08@senate.virginia.gov; district29@senate.virginia.gov; district40@senate.virginia.gov; district31@senate.virginia.gov; district05@senate.virginia.gov