What is the effect of the owner provision of the former guest statute on the owner provisions of the guest statute?

To begin with, in terms of political realities, I believe that the majority place far too much significance on the 'reenactment' of the challenged provision in 1973. Inasmuch as our decision in Brown v. Merlo, supra, [16 Cal.3d 534] had specifically declined to pass upon the constitutionality of the owner provision of the former guest statute because that portion of the statute was not at issue in that case (see 8 Cal.3d at p. 862, fn. 3, 106 Cal.Rptr. 388, 506 P.2d 212), the 1973 'reenactment' may simply reflect a legislative decision to leave the question of

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