Yes that is correct. However, they are not just running around making insane regs on their own. The feds leaned and leaned hard on California to clean up the air. In an unusual moment of clarity the legislature realized that they cound never deal with the complex issues involved. Instead CARB was formed. This is actually a good thing because if the legislature was running the show it would way way worse than it is with CARB. CARB was saddled with the mission of cleaning up the air. They did this by spreading the pain around. Compared to things like stationary engines, motorcycles have gotten off relatively easy. If you take a car from 1970 to now vs a bike, the cars have cleaned up many times more than a bike. Cars got fuel injection to meet smog regs. Bikes are just now getting them, but it's more for preformance than meeting smog.
Like any other gear head I don't really like it. However, as a resident of Los Angeles county I do appreciate the cleaner air. The air here is so much cleaner today than it was on my first visit to the LA area in the the early 70's.
