SEMA-model legislation that would allow vehicle hobbyists to install and use aftermarket modified exhaust systems that meet an objective noise limit was introduced in the Hawaii State Legislature. Car owners would be issued a certificate of compliance if the exhaust system emitted no more than 95 decibels in a fair and predictable test. If enacted into law, the measure would provide motorists who drive vehicles legally equipped with modified exhaust systems the ability to prove that they comply with the law and would remedy the enforcement policy currently used by police officers in which exhaust noise citations are prosecuted solely based on the officer’s subjective judgment.
More information is available. For details, contact Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org.