The American Trucking Association is calling a recent vote in the U.S. Senate to nullify California’s electric vehicle mandate a “monumental victory.”
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to revoke three vehicle emissions waivers in California, a move the Senate parliamentarian said the body may not have the legal right to do. The three waivers set stricter vehicle emissions standards than federal regulations. Two of the waivers related to reducing tailpipe emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, as well as limited smog pollution from trucks. The last waiver, set to go into effect in 2026, ruled out gas powered cars and required all new vehicle sales in California to be zero emissions by 2035.
The ATA said the Senate’s votes were a victory for the trucking industry, for common sense and for consumers. Critics of California’s regulations said because of interstate commerce, its stricter standards essentially set higher standards for the country.
“California is the breeding ground of all bad public policy, and it’s long past time that our nation’s leadership in Washington stop abdicating its responsibility to unelected, cubicle-dwelling bureaucrats in Sacramento who have no understanding of the real world and how it works. Today’s Senate votes send a resounding message nationwide that this is not the United States of California, nor will it ever be,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said.
The Senate passed two resolutions that would undo California’s regulations. The measures were previously passed by the House and now go on to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
The ATA said California’s mandates would have been costly to implement and that other states that had adopted the standards had acknowledged that reality by scaling back and delaying implementation.