SACRAMENTO, CA - In California, more than any other place, the process of registering an automobile provides a timely lesson in government.

This year a smog check was required for my vehicle registration. Fond as I am of clean air, I do not object to this measure. In fact, I already contribute to the general air quality by living in downtown Sacramento, working at home, and walking to most stores, restaurants, and bars. I can even drop off my car at the smog place and walk home. But this time the guy at my regular shop, though congenial as ever, told me he couldn’t help me.

Though it’s not made clear on the registration form, I have to take my car to a "test only" facility this time. No explanation is given but that’s not surprising. With no need to compete, the government speaks in edicts. "You shall" take it to a test-only place. Or else.

There are only a few test-only places in town, of course, and none within walking distance. So now I have to drive five times the distance, contributing to pollution as I do so. But except for a dynamometer (which simulates actual driving), the test-only shop is exactly the same as the test-and-repair facilities which I have been forbidden to use this time. The visual inspection is the same, and the smog testing machine is the same. And as at the other places, the testing device is directly on line with the Department of Motor Vehicles, so there’s no way to cheat.

On the wall, some official, but incomprehensible, plaque explains that in high-smog areas a random number
of cars are chosen for test-only facilities. It doesn’t explain how this changes anything or makes for better
air quality. And it doesn’t.

Despite a warning from some bureaucrat that I would need a catalytic converter--"I know you will," he said--my car passed easily, though it has no catalytic converter. The test-only measure brought business to one out-of-the-way shop and inconvenienced me, on a Monday morning. But one should always ask the question posed by singer Les McCann: "Compared to what?"

Several years ago the EPA wanted to shut down all private smog stations and build government stations,
staffed by government workers. The Wilson Administration refused to go along with such blatant imperialism, despite federal threats to withhold highway funds, a move that likely prevented a violent revolution. Those who work at the DMV, or HUD or HEW for that matter, have enough trouble with area codes and public safety demands. Surely they should not be allowed to touch an automobile.

Making the feds back down is a tough act to follow, but the current administration in Sacramento can take a
shot by eliminating this test-only double standard and allowing any car to be smogged at any station. Whatever
they do, the lesson is clear.

Regulation often has adverse consequences. In other words, government is like the mechanic who gives you a
bill three times the size of his original estimate, explaining, "Well, it was a lot harder to fix than we
thought."

- K. Lloyd Billingsley