California News:
Several lawmakers, including Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) confirmed on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is set to officially sign off on three resolutions this Thursday that will officially eliminate California’s 2035 new gas powered car sales ban mandate.
Chief amongst the three resolutions is the resolution to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waiver for California’s 2035 mandate, which aimed to end the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. Since the EPA waiver was first passed in December 2024 as a Biden Administration attempt to “Trump-proof” the mandate, supporters of the mandate deemed it safe because of Congress not being able to change it because of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) being believed to not effect the waiver. The Biden Administration, backed up by reports from the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Senate Parliamentarian, didn’t think that a House or Senate vote could overturn it. However, this was proven wrong last month following the House voting 246-164 to end the waiver, followed by the Senate voting 51-44 in favor.
“On Thursday, President Trump will sign my Resolution to reverse California’s absurd ban on gas-powered cars,” confirmed Congressman Kiley.
In addition to the EPA waiver repeal resolution, two other resolutions are to be signed. One is ending the EPA approval of a similar California mandate for heavy duty trucks that the state agreed to repeal last month. The other resolution is to stop the EPA waiver for California’s low-nitrogen oxide truck emissions rule, which was also passed in December by the Biden administration.
President Trump is expected to sign all three on Thursday with several dignitaries in attendance, including several auto industry officials who stood in opposition to all the EPA approvals. The signing is to cap off what was both an election promise and an inauguration day pledge to end California’s 2035 mandate. In addition to California being heavily affected, the 17 other states that have fully or partially followed California’s lead on the mandate will see their mandates fall as well thanks to blanket federal coverage.
However, the signing on Thursday will not make it a done deal. Both Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta have vowed to challenge the resolutions in court.
“Republicans went around their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent,” said Newsom at a press conference in May. “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. We’re going to fight this unconstitutional attack on California in court.”
“With these votes, Senate Republicans are bending the knee to President Trump once again,” added Bonta last month. “As we have said before, this reckless misuse of the Congressional Review Act is unlawful, and California will not stand idly by. We need to hold the line on strong emissions standards and keep the waivers in place, and we will sue to defend California’s waivers.”
On Wednesday, Newsom’s office confirmed that they will fight back against the resolutions.
“If it’s a day ending in Y, it’s another day of Trump’s war on California. We’re fighting back,” explained Newsom spokesman Daniel Villasenor in a statement.
If the EPA waiver managed to not be repealed, the 2035 mandate would have stayed in place in California and a handful of other states that followed California’s lead, along with the 2026 35% electric car sales mark as outlined under the mandate. Stagnation and regression of electric car sales in the past few years, along with severe economic concerns of a forced electric vehicle mandate, made reaching the goal next year all but impossible as 2024 EV rates were around 21.4% of all cars sold in the state – with the figure remaining unchanged from 2023. Instead, new gas-powered cars will remain for sale past 2035 in California and other affected states.
The signing itself is expected to take place at 11 A.M. EST in Washington.
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Author: Evan Symon
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