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California is preparing to sue the federal government to recover its right to set vehicle emissions standards, Rob Bonta, the state\u2019s attorney general, told TechCrunch in a statement.<\/p>\n
Senate Republicans voted on Thursday 51 to 44 to overturn a waiver<\/a> that allowed California to set stricter air pollution standards for vehicles. The state has received waivers more than 100 times<\/a> since federal laws granted the right some 50 years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThe weaponization of the Congressional Review Act to attack California\u2019s waivers is just another part of the continuous, partisan campaign against California\u2019s efforts to protect the public and the planet from harmful pollution,\u201d Bonta said. \u201cAs we have said before, this reckless misuse of the Congressional Review Act is unlawful, and California will not stand idly by.\u201d<\/p>\n Sixteen other states and the District of Columbia follow<\/a> California\u2019s emissions standards, and most of them have implemented fossil fuel vehicle phase-outs. Other Senate votes Thursday repealed waivers that allowed California to set stricter emissions standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.<\/p>\n California\u2019s EV mandate is actually a zero-emissions standard. Beginning in 2026, the state was to begin requiring increased sales of zero-emissions cars and passenger trucks until 2035, when automakers would have to sell only zero-emissions vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Currently, two technologies qualify: hydrogen fuel cells and battery electric vehicles. Given the growing pains<\/a> that fuel cells and hydrogen filling networks have experienced, EVs quickly became the de facto approach to meeting California\u2019s 2035 deadline.<\/p>\n Last year, 25.3% of new light-duty vehicles<\/a> in California qualified as zero emissions, and nearly all of them were EVs. The state\u2019s mandate required 35% of new sales to be ZEV in 2026, something automakers have said<\/a> would be \u201cimpossible.\u201d<\/p>\n ZEV sales growth in California was flat in 2024, though previous years were different, with the share rising from 7.8% in 2020 to 25% in 2023.<\/p>\n The vote Thursday bucked precedent by going against the advice of the Senate parliamentarian and the Government Accountability Office, which both had ruled that the waiver could not be revoked under the Congressional Review Act. The CRA allows a simple majority vote on a resolution to overturn a regulation, allowing a Senate vote to proceed without threat of filibuster.<\/p>\n Previously, California\u2019s attorney general Rob Bonta was \u201cprepared for\u201d Republican efforts to repeal the emissions waiver via the CRA. \u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s an appropriate use of the Congressional Review Act, and we\u2019re prepared to defend ourselves if it\u2019s wrongfully weaponized,\u201d he told Politico<\/a> in early March.<\/p>\n