Extend validity of CA carpool/HOV lane PURPLE decal

Milpitas CA

Description

Purple colored CAV decals are issued to vehicles that meet California’s super ultra-low emission vehicle (SULEV), inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) and transitional zero emission vehicle (TZEV) evaporative emission standard for exhaust emissions. These Purple colored decals were issued starting in 2019 and have an expiration date of 1/1/2023. People who purchased cars that qualified for these Purple colored decals used these decals to travel in HOV/Carpools lanes only for about for a year. Covid-19 hit during early 2020 and since then most people had to switch to "work-from-home" mode since then, and never utilized these decals fully for the last 3 years. Only recently, some employees have started return to office and using these decals to travel in HOV lanes. With people slowly returning to office now, carpool/HOV lanes are getting crowded again. For those car owners who have Purple decals, they will be unable to continue to use carpool/HOV lanes after 1/1/2023, despite the fact that they never or hardly used the Purple during the last 2+ years. Given the currently economic situation and high interest rates, it will be almost an impossible or uphill task to buy a new car that qualifies for carpool/HOV lane use. Also, with the huge supply chain issues that all car manufacturers are facing and inadequate supply of components to meet the demand, the prices have skyrocketed for all cars. Even at these high prices, there is a long wait-time to find/buy the desired car. Considering the above facts, it would be prudent for California govt. to extend the validity of Purple decals by two more years to 1/1/2025, or issue Blue colored decals, which have validity until 1/1/2025 to the car owners who currently have Purple decals. I have started a change.org petition for this intitative, those who wish to support this, please sign at https://chng.it/5w8b5X9JHS Thank you for your support!