California filing suit over U.S. Senate vote revoking state's EV mandate and strict emission standards
California is fighting back a day after the U.S. Senate voted to put the brakes on the state's clean vehicle policies.
Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement Thursday saying the state will file a lawsuit after senators voted to revoke California's emission waivers that set stricter standards than federal regulations. One of the rules, the so-called "EV mandate," would phase out gasoline-powered cars and require new vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2035.
The two other waivers involve reducing tailpipe emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, and limiting smog pollution from trucks. Earlier this month, the House of Representatives also voted to undo the waivers that authorize California's clean vehicle rules which were approved by the Biden administration Environmental Protection Agency in 2024.
Sixteen other states and the District of Columbia have also adopted California's vehicle standards.
California, Democrats say vote to block clean vehicle rules is illegal
Republicans say the Congressional Review Act allows Congress to overturn rules passed by federal agencies with a simple majority vote, but Democrats point to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian, who found that the act does not apply because California's waivers are not the same as rules.
"This Senate vote is illegal," said Newsom in a prepared statement. "Republicans went around their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent. We won't stand by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again - undoing work that goes back to the days of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan - all while ceding our economic future to China."
"With these votes, Senate Republicans are bending the knee to President Trump once again," said Bonta in a prepared statement. "The weaponization of the Congressional Review Act to attack California's waivers is just another part of the continuous, partisan campaign against California's efforts to protect the public and the planet from harmful pollution."
GOP, Trump administration target California's emission rules
The stricter rules would begin in 2026 by setting interim quotas for zero-emission vehicles, with quotas increasing each year until 2035. The quotas would also allow 20% of zero-emission cars sold to be plug-in hybrids. Gas-powered used vehicles would still be allowed on the roads.
Republicans and the auto industry maintain that there should be a single, national standard for auto emissions and that the state's EV mandate gives consumers fewer choices and increases the price of vehicles.
During his first administration, President Donald Trump also attempted to revoke the California's EPA waivers, prompting the state and 22 other states to file suit. The lawsuit became moot after President Joe Biden reversed the Trump administration policy.
In 1966, California established the country's first vehicle emissions standards. Under the federal Clean Air Act of 1970, the state can adopt stricter emission standards than the EPA's regulations and is the only state eligible for a waiver to the Clean Air Act. Since the act was established, the EPA has granted California more than 75 waivers for its vehicle emissions program.
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