House votes to block California's ban on new gas-powered vehicles in 2035
The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to block California from implementing plans to block new sales of gas-powered vehicles in a decade.
In a 246-164 vote, members approved House Joint Resolution 88, which seeks to withdraw a waiver granted by the Environmental Protection Agency to California during the Biden administration to implement the ban. Thirty-five Democrats joined 211 Republicans in backing the measure.
"The House of Representatives just passed my Resolution to stop California's insane gas car ban. It was a bipartisan vote," Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), one of the measure's co-sponsors, said on X (formerly Twitter).
"This is a major victory for common sense and a massive humiliation for Gavin Newsom," said Kiley, who had sought to unseat the governor in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election.
The House also approved two other measures which withdraw waivers on the state's plans to increase sales of zero-emissions trucks in a 231-191 vote, along with the state's latest nitrogen oxide emission standards for engines in a 225-196 vote.
"By passing these resolutions, the House made it clear that we won't let one state's radical agenda dictate what Americans can drive," said Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Oroville), who also co-sponsored the measures. "People deserve the freedom to choose the vehicles that work best for them-not to be forced into unaffordable electric vehicles that may not work for them."
In 2020, Newsom signed an executive order that would halt the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks in the Golden State by 2035. The governor's order directed the California Air Resources Board to develop and approve regulations to meet the 2035 deadline and to require all medium and heavy-duty trucks to be 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2045 "where feasible."
The executive order does not ban ownership of gasoline-powered vehicles, nor does it ban sales in the used car market.
Following Thursday's vote, Newsom's office issued a statement saying the House illegally used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the state's Clean Air Act waivers. The governor's office also said the move contradicts the Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian who have ruled the CRA does not apply to the state's waivers.
"Trump Republicans are hellbent on making California smoggy again. Clean air didn't used to be political. In fact, we can thank Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon for our decades-old authority to clean our air," Newsom said. "The only thing that's changed is that big polluters and the right-wing propaganda machine have succeeded in buying off the Republican Party – and now the House is using a tactic that the Senate's own parliamentarian has said is lawless. Our vehicles program helps clean the air for all Californians, and we'll continue defending it."
In a separate statement, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) said, "House Republicans' misguided and cynical attempts to gut the Clean Air Act and undercut California's climate leadership ignores the reality of California's strength as the fourth largest economy in the world."
Padilla went on to say, "If Senate Republicans take up these measures under the Congressional Review Act, they will be going nuclear by overruling the Parliamentarian, all to baselessly attack California."
