The Senate just voted to upend decades of regulations in voting to strip California of its ability to set emissions rules stricter than national regulations.
On a 51-to-44 vote, the U.S. Senate voted this week to overrule California’s ability to set its own stringent vehicle emissions standards — something it’s done since the 1960s. The move comes as a rare rebuke of the Senate parliamentarian, a nonpartisan interpreter of the congressional body’s rules. However, opponents are already questioning whether the mechanism Congress is using to try and revoke California’s zero-emission mandates, including a 2035 ban on new gas and diesel vehicle sales as well as stricter standards than current EPA regulations for diesel heavy-duty trucks, is legal.
A report by NPR notes three resolutions by the House of Representatives to revoke waivers that have allowed California to chart stricter-than-usual emissions regulations, in the aim of combating air pollution in the state. The Congressional Review Act, or CRA, is the law by which the Senate decided by simple majority to scuttle California’s unique ability to establish its own rules that are more aggressive than those set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Of course, California isn’t having it. The state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, says: “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.” Governor Gavin Newsom, for his part, contends the Senate’s votes will roll back standards that are pushing the development of electric vehicles, effectively ceding the global EV market to Chinese interests, as U.S. automakers now have far less incentive to press toward meeting the state’s new sales mandates. Right now, under its “Advanced Clean Cars II” rule, California mandates a 35% electric vehicles sales mix in model year 2026, ratcheting up to that complete ban on gas- or diesel-only vehicle sales by 2035.
This is not the first fight surrounding California’s emissions waivers
Bonta has threatened to sue the Trump administration over this latest effort, and it wouldn’t be the first legal battle that’s ensued. Back in 2019, the EPA revoked the waiver that allowed California to set its own emissions standards. While the state sued against that decision and some automakers backed the state’s ability to set its own rules (while others supported the administration’s position to get rid of the regulations), the Biden administration reinstated the waiver in 2022.
Now, a similar fight is shaping up to play out again. On one side, lobbyist groups like the American Petroleum Institute as well as agricultural firms, which favor fuels over batteries, say the electric vehicle rules reduce consumer choice, make new vehicles more expensive and increase energy reliance on global supply chains currently spearheaded by China. On the other, state officials and public health interests say the stricter standards are crucial to combat climate-related disasters and air quality, particularly for sensitive groups like children and the seniors.
While a legal battle will likely protract any effort to actually dismantle California’s unique emissions standards, this could set a precedent that will reverberate through several other states moving forward. Eleven other states, including the District of Columbia, have previously adopted plans to follow California’s zero-mission vehicle standards. Some have gone farther still, like New York, Colorado, and New Mexico: which announced plans to move nearly in lockstep with California, setting stricter standards (particularly for heavy-duty vehicles like commercial trucks).
