The U.S. Senate voted last week to repeal a waiver that allowed California to enforce a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by the 2035 calendar year. The 51-44 vote passed largely along party lines and was supported by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that includes General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, and several other major auto manufacturers.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta promises to sue the Trump administration over the repeal if and when the president greenlights last week’s vote in the Senate, according to Politico. “The federal government’s overreach is illogical,” Bonta said in a press conference in Sacramento. “It’s politically motivated, and it comes at the expense of Californians’ lives and livelihoods.”
11 other states had previously eyed California’s EV mandate for adoption. Last year, EVs accounted for roughly 23 percent of California’s new vehicle sales, with the Golden State aiming for 35 percent by the 2026 model year and 68 percent by 2030.
“I think the fact that the Senate parliamentarian, the Government Accountability Office, have all rejected this approach, this reliance on the Congressional Review Act, that the Congressional Review Act has never been used for this purpose ever in 30 years, and that Clean Air Act waivers have been given over the 55-year duration of the statute by both Republican and Democratic administrations, and never been challenged in this way, probably tells you all you need to know,” Bonta said on Thursday.
Automakers state that California’s EV mandate could have a major negative impact on U.S. manufacturing and jobs, while critics argue that mandating EVs at the scale proposed was impossible given the lack of charging infrastructure and a general decline in EV demand across the nation. Notably, Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, sided with Republicans in last week’s vote, citing her obligation to protect Michigan’s auto workforce.
The broader political landscape also remains in flux. Vermont, one of the states expected to mirror California’s EV sales rules, has temporarily paused its EV sales rules, with state governor Phil Scott citing technological and infrastructure gaps. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is working to roll back emissions regulations to 2020 levels and dismantle the federal EV tax credit amid a broader regulatory slowdown in governments trying to accelerate EV adoption.
Comments
Gavin : A “red wave ” is coming.
He’s getting sore from trying to ride the fence. President wannabe .
He’s no president. He is a bootlicker of the CCP. If anyone is a national threat to the country its this guy.
California does not have a ban on the sale of ICE vehicles. Let’s do some accurate reporting!
They have implemented more stringent clean air requirement along with CAFE requirements to help solve their issues with smog. If manufacturers can’t figure out how to improve fuel mileage without converting to EVs, let’s blame the manufacturers, not the states who are trying to clean up their air. Or blame the people who are stuck in the past and refuse to try to reduce their polluting ways.
California is planning to ban the sales of NEW ICE vehicles by 2035. It isn’t in effect yet, but that is what they are planning. Several other states and Canada have announced the same plan.
A state that has extraordinarily high sales of escalades and range rovers has the financial means to reduce smog by having the wealthy choose to buy EV’s, without punishing the working class. Manufacturers make EV or hybrid options. Why is it the manufacturers fault that people prefer combustion?
I wouldn’t expect different from california, the elites fly private jets to functions to tell the rest of us we are the problem.
As a working class American, I reserve the right to demand those millionaires to be trading in those private jets for electric trains.
CARBs ACC2 is not about “fuel mileage” (they actually cannot set those standards). ACC2 requires manufacturers to sell a rapidly increasing percentage of ZERO emission vehicles. And no matter how many MPGs an internal combustion engine gets, it still emits the combustion byproducts from its tailpipe. CA has the highest percent of EV sales in the nation at 20% among all manufacturers. In order to be ACC2 compliant, EACH manufacturer would need to hit 35% in the 2026 model year. That would be a year-over-year increase in penetration of 75%, highly unlikely given that “the people who are stuck in the past” don’t want them at that rate even if all manufacturers were able to offer that many.
Mentally ill women and weak men. I saw today that they are going to spend $20M on a study to attempt to figure out why men are leaving the party, LOL! They are clueless.
I have a project with a pharmaceutical company which I will not name. They have implemented these all gender bathrooms all over their facility. Now I have no problems with this whole recognition of different genders and utilizing unisex bathrooms for to abide by this new fad. After all, I have gay friends and I will not judge at anyone wanting to undergo a gender change.
But where I draw the line is in how this facility went about it. They took the original men and and women bathrooms, made them gender neutral, and put stalls around the urinals of what was originally the mens bathroom and a tampon dispenser across from it. But the problem is, the stalls aren’t fully covered from floor to ceiling. I could be washing my hands at the sink and look in the mirror and see the bottom of the toilets or in essence, the underwear of that person in the stall behind me as Im washing my hands. Now I am a father of a 4 year old. But if I had a teenage daughter, would I feel comfortable her being in this bathroom with any random dude being able to see that?
So why am I mentioning this and how is it relevant to your comment? Well there is the answer they are looking for. As a father, I would be horrified by this. That didn’t need $20 million worth of research.
Is California also going to ban drive up windows at fast food joints, coffee shops, banks, pharmacies, dry cleaners? Are they going to ban people from sitting in line for 20 minutes while dropping off and picking up their kids from school? Are they going to ban boats, yachts, PWC’s? Are they going to ban airlines from using their airspace?
You forgot lawn mowers. Now little bobby will only be able to mow half a yard and not earn as much cutting grass for other people.
Actually, CARB started regulating lawn mowers over 25 years ago. First, there was an incentive: turn in your gas mower and get $100 off a new battery powered mower. No incentives anymore but sales of battery lawn mowers have taken over the market. Plenty of mowing power for any lawn.
Don’t worry, the California Democrats can just give the kids welfare like they do the illegals. After all, the far left’s economic policy is a welfare check each month.
They would never ban yachts or private jets. That would affect the elite’s. (makes you wonder if it is actually about total global emissions)
They will instead create rules that negatively affect the working class while not affecting the elite’s at all. (it will also have little affect on “global emissions” because the elite’s keep flying private jets and vacationing in their mega yachts)
Newsome must live close enough to the French Laundry restaurant that he can go there and back in an EV.
Good luck with that.
I don’t see a problem with automakers offering a choice of vehicles, and for buyers having a choice in the vehicles they buy.
What part of the definition of the word “banning” don’t you comprehend ?
Like Paula A said…2 steps forward and 3 steps back…who is anyone to say if the people vote on it in their state it should not be…..but there should be choices and oh how we forget what happened in China during covid….when everyone was locked down and there was barely and petrol driving their cities smog actually cleared up! LA still has that ring of smog and I bet others too now.
The CCP, California Communist Party, that rules the State, controls the people that live here as long as they stay in power. People should be able to make choices. Also California does not have the infer structures that would allow people to go without ICE cars.
Need to get rid of CARB!
They are for Democracy as long as you have only ONE “Choice” .
Libtards running and ruining Californication never heard of the “Primacy Clause” in our U.S. Constitution so they will increase their huge deficit with more Attorney’s fees by filing a sure-loser lawsuit !
The real excitement will be the governor elections in all the Commi owned states. People are not going to put up with this garbage anymore. It’s going to be even more exciting than the last presidential election. Suddenly all the states will be Red and happy again. And the losers will be Blue with defeat.
Newsome is the WORST Governor we’ve ever had here in California, low IQ voters here keep voting for him because of freebies and stimulus he uses to buy votes.
They are too ignorant to realize they pay more in the long run due to taxes. This JOKE would be a curse on America when he runs for President.
I think he is the worst governor in the history of the United States.
Everyone is all worked up about Trump but I can actually see Newsome as president (god forbid) virtually handing the country over to China on a gold platter much like Gerhard Schroeder handed Germany over to Russia on a gold platter so he can have a high seat in the board of directors at Gazprom.
California should not unilaterally dictate environmental policy for 17 states, independent of federal authority in Washington, D.C. The United States cannot function with two competing federal governments. The Supreme Court and Congress must act swiftly to address and resolve this issue.