Senate votes to stop California from mandating EVs, which would have impacted drivers nationwide

The Republican-controlled Senate voted Thursday in favor of repealing the waiver granted to California by the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency that allowed the state to ban gas-powered cars.

The Biden administration finalized two rules impacting vehicle emissions. The tailpipe emission standards set limits on emissions from vehicles. And the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards limited emissions across fleets of vehicles. Because automakers could only meet the standards by selling EVs, critics called the rules a de facto EV mandate. 

The waiver allowed California to set emissions standards higher than those set by the EPA. Because 11 states and the District of Columbia have adopted California’s regulations, and because manufacturers understand that California is by far the largest market for new cars, California’s EV mandate would likely maintain an EV mandate nationally, even if the other rules were to be repealed, critics argued. 

“Unelected people in California and the Biden administration abused the Clean Air Act waiver process to try and force a backdoor EV mandate. With President Trump’s anticipated signature, he and the Republicans in Congress will finally put an end to a decades-long quest by the fringe left to force people out of their cars,” Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, said in a statement. 

The resolution revoking California’s waiver was introduced under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), allowing Congress to block finalized federal regulations. The House last month passed the resolution 225-196.