Tuesday May 5, 2009  went well. Although there were 40 classic cars that had signed up, we did manage to have 18 show up to display their cars. The rain on Monday and threat of rain for Tuesday, kept others away. There was a light drizzle in the afternoon, but the rest of the day was dry. A special thank you to all those that did show up. Some of the legislators came out of their offices to look at the beautiful selection of automobiles.

Wednesday May 6, 2009 went very well. Assemblyman Jeffries, Senator Benoit(SB 232 - Specially Constructed Vehicles), Senator Wright (SB385 - Historical Vehicles Smog bill), CHP Chief Scott Howland, SEMA Lobbyist Chuck Cole and Rob Oglesby from CARB were the speakers on the agenda and we had a surprise visit during lunch by Assemblyman Mike Duval who recently was named the Chairman of the SEMA Automobile Enthusiasts Leadership Caucus. Every speaker did a great job. The State Automobile Enthusiast Leadership Caucus is a bipartisan group of state lawmakers with a passion for automobiles. The caucus currently has 350 state legislators in all 50 states.

Thursday May 7, 2009 also went well. First to speak was the President of the ACCC, Fred Evenson followed by Mark Glover from the Sacramento Bee and Deputy Attorney General Robert Morgester from the Special Crimes Unit. The Attorney General used Power Point to explain AB 619 (Vehicle Amnesty), Bob Pool from United States Auto Club (USAC) talked about different racing fuels and what type of racing is currently going on. Dennis Clear from the Department of Motor Vehicles(DMV), Alan Coppage from the Bureau of Automobile Repair(BAR) and Stella Pyrtek-Blond from New Jersey representing  Clean Air Performance Professionals (CAPP) were the last speakers for the day. The rest of the day was a open planning session and the conference adjourned at 4:00 pm. Dave Cahal from the National Street Rod Association (NSRA) presented Fred Evenson with a special award.

The 2010 Legislative Conference is in the planning stages and will take place in the early part of May. Plan to attend the 2010 Conference. The two day conference is a chance to meet and talk with California legislators, State law enforcement, State regulators and other vehicle enthusiasts around the state.  

I would like to thank everyone that helped make the 2009 conference a success. Remember that it takes dollars and numbers to help keep our hobby alive in California so I hope that you will consider joining the Association of California Car Clubs and become a part of the solution. If you wish to join you can join on our website at acccdefender.org or call me at 916-276-4081.

Thank you

Bob Stearns