It does suck, lol. Besides a money grab by the State, i'm genuinely curious as to why anything else matters except for what comes out of the tailpipe. If it passes some required (and reasonable) threshold, what does anything upstream of the tailpipe matter? Being a Cali resident, i can at least understand the want for clean tailpipe emissions and no venting stuff to atmosphere. Otherwise, let it be what it is.
That Boss block is nice. Whats the power limits to that one?
I agree, if the car is modified, measure what comes out the back (or fender) and go by that.
I live in Texas and the state went away from yearly vehicle inspections, but retained the emissions portion for the counties in and around the big cities. It's only for vehicles that are 2-24 years old. If the OBD2 tells them that the readiness minotors are set and the check engine light is off (relates to emissions stuff), the car is good to go. That also hypothetically means that a vehicle with a good tune and hollowed out cats would pass.