Emission Gear?

Hey, I was talking to my friend at work and we looked up my 94 jgc laredo carfax report and found out that its from california. My friend said he thought i could take off all the special equipment they put on cars in california to pass emission tests and i could get more horsepower. Does anybody know if this is true and if it is how difficult is the equipment to take off and where is it located. Thanks