Senate votes to kill California's gas-powered vehicle restrictions

The United States Senate voted 51-44 mostly across party lines on Wednesday to repeal a waiver granted by the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency, allowing the state of California to enact its Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations. ACC II requires that 80 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in California by 2035 be zero-emission.

Notably, the legitimacy of the vote itself was dubious, as the Senate parliamentarian — a nonpartisan staffer who helps the Senate understand its own rules — had warned that the waiver did not fall under the Senate's purview. The parliamentarian noted that the EPA waiver wasn’t a formal rule but an administrative order. This means the waiver is not subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA), the law Senate Republicans used to justify the vote. The CRA only became law in 1996, and had seen little use until recently — it has been used to overturn federal rules a total of 20 times, 16 of which occurred during the previous Trump administration.

The measure will now go to President Trump's desk for signature, as the House already passed legislation to repeal the waiver earlier this month.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a DC lobbying group that represents a number of automakers including GM, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai, celebrated the vote. "These EV sales mandates were never achievable," said John Bozzella, president and CEO of the lobbying group. He argued, "Meeting the mandates would require diverting finite capital from the EV transition to purchase compliance credits from Tesla."

While these automakers rejoiced, environmental protection advocates struck a concerned tone. "It’s deeply disappointing that the Senate used the Congressional Review Act to block states from implementing air pollution standards to improve air quality. This illegitimate move poses threats to public health, the economy and states’ rights." said Steven Higashide, director of the Clean Transportation Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

As reported in the L.A. Times, Will Barrett, senior director at the American Lung Association and a clean air advocate said, “This is a major blow to the decades-long public health protections delivered under the Clean Air Act.” Highlighting the importance of these waivers he said “It is more important than ever that California and all other states that rely on Clean Air Act waivers continue to cut tailpipe pollution through homegrown, health-protective policies."

This is just the latest in continued efforts by the current administration to curtail or end legislation that supports or encourages wider adoption of electric vehicles and environmental protection.

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