WASHINGTON, D.C. — Throwing out the “California EV mandate” was only the beginning for Wyoming’s congressional delegation and fellow Republicans in the nation’s capital.
Now, they hope to pass a bill that would strip the Golden State of the power it’s has had since 1967 to make auto emissions rules in the first place — rules that 17 other states have, over time, wholly or partly copied in favor of electric vehicles.
This bill is the Stop California from Advancing Regulatory Burden Act, or the Stop CARB Act.
The bill would remove the nearly 60-year-old exemption in the Air Quality Act, now named the Clean Air Act, that has allowed California to set auto emissions standards that are stricter than the EPA’s limits.
Further, the bill would nullify all the state regulatory regimes mirroring California’s and prevent similar rules in the future by any state.
Another Republican-backed bill is the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act. It would ban emissions standards that “directly or indirectly limit the sale or use of new motor vehicles with internal combustion engines,” the bill text says.
Key regulations at issue aim to phase out gasoline- and diesel-powered engines, and so the stakes for the oil industry are enormous. These bills would stop that from happening.
Emissions standards influence the entire automaking industry, so pricing and availability of all cars and trucks are affected nationwide, Republicans have repeatedly said.
Both bills are awaiting action in committees, with no votes yet scheduled. Committees in both the House and Senate have corresponding versions of both bills.
Background And ‘California EV Mandate’
The Clean Air Act generally forbids states from setting auto emissions standards, empowering the EPA to set national limits instead. This arrangement has afforded oil refiners and carmakers a high degree of regulatory certainty, not having to cope with a mishmash of rules all over the country.
But California, where Los Angeles smog was notorious, got the carve-out in 1967. Later, the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990 allowed states to copy California's rules. Over the last 35 years, more and more states have been adopting those rules, which always evolve, becoming stricter and stricter over time.
According to Congress’s nonpartisan legislative analysis arm, the Congressional Research Service, 17 states had adopted California’s rules in whole or in part as of April of this year.
The most contentious and far-reaching of those rules was called Advanced Clean Cars II, nicknamed the California EV mandate for its phase-out of gasoline-powered cars and light-duty trucks.
It called for a total ban in 10 years on sales of new vehicles of those types. All sales of new cars and light-duty trucks had to have zero emissions by 2035.
Republicans passed legislation, which President Donald Trump signed last week, overturning Advanced Clean Cars II and other recent air rules set by California. The federal lawmakers achieved this by challenging recent EPA waivers given to California pursuant to the Clean Air Act.
EPA Waivers And Senate Procedure
Although California has the carve-out in the Clean Air Act, it must still seek waivers from the EPA each time it makes new rules, and historically those waivers have been rubberstamped.
Once a waiver is approved for California, it automatically applies to the other states using the California model.
Republicans used a law called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to treat the most recent EPA waivers for California as federal rules and throw them out.
In the House, many Democrats sided with Republicans on this. But in the Senate it was a different story.
The CRA allows Congress to throw out rules on simple majority votes. Legislation typically requires 60 votes to advance in the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats.
Senate Democrats argued that the EPA waivers were routine under the Clean Air Act and therefore legislative in nature, not rules subject to CRA review.
Senate Democrats were emboldened by opinions of both the Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian that supported their view.
They demanded Republicans use “regular order,” requiring 60 votes, but the GOP did not go along with them and instead tossed out the rules with simple-majority, party-line votes.
As for the underlying policy issue, Democrats said climate change, health problems stemming from air pollution and the principle of states’ rights should have prevailed. They also warned of EV manufacturing jobs to be lost to other countries.
Republicans argued that California should not be allowed to set de facto policy for the whole country, especially because EVs are on average more expensive than combustion-engine vehicles and do not fit rural lifestyles.
New Bills And Wyoming’s Delegation
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, is a co-sponsor of both the Stop CARB Act and the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act.
“I hope to see both these bills move forward to create safeguards against California repeating these ridiculous actions in the future,” Lummis told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “National EV and emissions standards need to be established by Congress, not California's progressive, ultra-left state assembly.”
U.S. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming is a co-sponsor of one of the bills, though a spokeswoman confirmed Friday he supports both of them.
“Senator Barrasso supports all efforts to prevent California from setting vehicle standards nationwide, including the Stop CARB Act and Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act,” the spokeswoman, Laura Mengelkamp, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
On the House side, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, has not signed on to either bill but told Cowboy State Daily she supports them.
“California's overreaching environmental mandates are a direct threat to the practical realities of states like Wyoming,” Hageman said Friday.
“The push for electric vehicles is not just impractical, it is dangerous. In Wyoming's harsh winters and vast rural expanses, electric vehicles are unreliable and unsafe,” Hageman added.
“We must protect Wyoming's interests and ensure that California's wrongheaded, counter-intuitive, and destructive regulatory burdens are not forced on the rest of the country,” the congresswoman added.
The Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act was introduced by U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, and on the House side by U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Pennsylvania.
Taking the lead on the Stop CARB Act are U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
