This week, the U.S. Senate is set to consider measures aimed at preventing California from enforcing a set of vehicle emissions regulations that are more stringent than federal standards. Among the targeted rules is the state’s mandate to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., announced Tuesday that the chamber will take up three resolutions, previously approved by the House, that would undo these regulations. Final votes on the measures could occur later this week.
The proposed resolutions would halt California’s move to eliminate new gas-powered vehicles, as well as other regulations aimed at reducing emissions from medium- and heavy-duty trucks and cutting nitrogen oxide pollution that contributes to smog. Senate Republicans are using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to overturn federal agency rules, to attempt to block the state’s standards, according to the Associated Press.
The Trump administration had previously rescinded California’s waiver to set its own emissions policies in 2019, but the Biden administration reinstated it. Now, Republicans argue that the California rules effectively influence vehicle standards nationwide, as several other states have adopted similar measures, creating what they see as a de facto national electric vehicle requirement.
Thune criticized the state’s policies as an “improper expansion” of the Clean Air Act, saying the rules would “endanger consumers, our economy and our nation’s energy supply.”
California has long been granted the authority to implement emissions standards that exceed federal limits. In 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced an initiative to stop the sale of all new gas-powered vehicles in the state within 15 years, part of a larger plan to cut emissions from the transportation sector. Sales of plug-in hybrids and used gas-powered vehicles would still be permitted under the policy.
The Biden administration granted California a waiver to enforce these standards in December, shortly before President Trump resumed office. The state’s rules go beyond the Biden-era regulations, which tightened emissions but did not require a transition to electric vehicles.
In issuing the waiver, the Environmental Protection Agency said opponents failed to demonstrate that the EV mandate or separate standards for heavy-duty vehicles were inconsistent with the Clean Air Act.
