U.S. House of Representatives. (Photo: house.gov)
House Votes To Repeal EPA Waiver for California’s 2035 EV Mandate, Paving Way For Federal Repeal
The EPA waiver was first passed in December 2024 as a Biden Admin attempt to ‘Trump-proof’ the mandate
By Evan Symon, May 1, 2025 2:24 pm
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 246-164 Thursday to end the Environmental Protection Agency waiver that federally approved of California’s 2035 gas-powered car ban. The vote paves the way for a total federal ban on the mandate and allows new gas-powered cars to be sold in California after 2035.
Since the EPA waiver was first passed in December 2024 as a Biden Administration attempt to “Trump-proof” the mandate, supporters of the mandate deemed it safe because of Congress not being able to change it with the Congressional Review Act in place. As the CRA allows Congress to change federal agency rules decisions, and not waiver decisions, the Biden Administration, backed up by a report from the General Accounting Office (GAO), didn’t think that a House vote could overturn it. This was shown to be wrong on Thursday when House Republicans, joined by dozens of Democrats, approved of the open interpretation of the CRA and repealed the waiver.
The decision, made in tandem with a vote on Wednesday that axed similar California heavy truck rules, was well received by consumers groups and automotive groups. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), which represents BMW, Ford, GM, Honda, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Toyota, among others, backed the waiver repeal earlier this week. They said that if the mandate continues, the companies would suffer greatly because they would be selling fewer cars, increasing the price of cars that are already on the market, and would reduce overall competition and vehicle choice, hurting the auto industry very badly.
However AAI CEO John Bozzella was full of praise with the vote on the repeal. “The vote is a welcome – and targeted – action by the House to prevent the inevitable jobs and manufacturing fallout from these unachievable regulations,” Bozzella said following the vote.
“These out of touch mandates abused by California should not be imposed on the entire country when it’s contrary to common sense and what the public wanted,” added Congressman Vince Fong (R-CA). “We should protect the right of consumers to choose the vehicle that works for their budget and lifestyle, in addition to removing needless barriers that limit water access to our farmers and Central Valley communities.”
However, many Democratic Californian lawmakers slammed the decision, calling the vote “illegal” and stating that the CRA doesn’t cover waivers. Leading the charge against the waiver repeal vote was Governor Gavin Newsom, whose 2035 mandate widely being seen as one of his key mandates as Governor.
Federal Government one step closer to ending the 2035 gas-powered car sales ban
“The Republican-controlled House illegally used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) today to attempt to repeal California’s Clean Air Act waivers, which authorize California’s clean cars and trucks program,” said Governor Newsom on Thursday in a statement. “This defies decades of precedent of these waivers not being subject to the CRA, and contradicts the non-partisan Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian, who both ruled that the CRA’s short-circuited process does not apply to the 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.
“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. Washington may want to cede our economy to China but California is standing by American innovation.”
Since Governor Newsom first signed the executive order in September 2020 to make all passenger cars zero emission by 2035, the policy has been in a politically gray area. While the policy launched other states to make similar laws, it soon faced something that California-led policies rarely receive – contraction. Some states left the 2035 gas-powered car ban policy, including Virginia last year. Some states delayed their mandates, like Maryland did last month. Others reacted more strongly, like Wyoming, which instead is currently trying to ban the sale of all electric car sales in the state by 2035.
For California, the 2035 goal is likewise faltering as the sale of all-electric cars has stagnated in the past few years. 2024 electric rates were around 21.4% of all cars sold in the state – with the figure remaining unchanged from 2023. California is also likely to miss the electric vehicle sales goal of 35% by 2026, which will force the state to delay the original 2035 end date. Or the state can change it to include the far more popular hybrid vehicles. Newsom and other California lawmakers are feeling increased pressure to do something about it thanks to declining EV sales.
Following his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise to end the 2035 mandate by launching an effort against it. This led to the EPA waiver repeal effort and, ultimately, the successful House vote on Thursday.
Despite the waiver repeal passage, a federal end to California’s 2035 is still not a sure thing. The waiver repeal still needs to pass the Senate by a simple majority, along with Presidential approval. Following that, the mandate needs to be removed, which California lawmakers have vowed to block as much as legally possible.
“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,” said Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA). “I will continue to defend our state’s authority to protect our residents, clean our air, lower costs, and transition to a clean energy economy.”
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December 18, 2024 -
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YES!
Let’s Go!
Next stops on the Trump Train express:
1. Repeal
2. Drill, Baby, Drill
All, Board!🚄🇺🇸
does this need to pass Senate, or were they only repealing previous houses resolution so the EPA director can do his job?
Yes, CaliGirl. I believe the bill must now go to the senate. It’s going to be amusing to watch California’s two leftist senators vote against the bill, once more showing their contempt for their own constituents.
Mr Newsome might be too young to remember the brown clouds over most of Southern California and being able to look east most days from Sacramento and seeing the snow on the mountains.
I started losing that view because CARB was concentrating on the “science” and made things more expensive and worse.
California now has the MTBE in all the ground water, thanks to them.
in the late 80s, the air was sampled coming out of tailpipes, and the Comedy was if the vehicle was not being tested, the probe, left laying on the floor, was sucking up dirtier air than was coming out of tail pipes..
the Honda corporation built a car so clean it did not need a catalytic converter, CARB outlawed it, forced them to put one on their cars.
my take on this is dealers at every level better get ready for a giant used car fleet in 2035, because sales will tank on anything new except what the State forces themselves to buy.
farmers and truckers have already endured diesel fleets with forced replacement before they are fully amortized without compensation, and the trade ins are leaving the state or country because they don’t want to crush them.
sustainable? CARB never heard of it.
and I know very little.
Newsom’s reign of terror is slowly being dismantled. The rest of the country should be celebrating as ol’ Slick was planning on taking his dystopia to the rest of the US.
Newsom is a delusional sociopath that has zero consideration for the health, safety and quality of life for his Constituents. Democrats are trying to force a communist government controlled regime like Stalins Russia or present day North Korea where nobody can own or afford to drive a car, buy or build a house , earn a good living or otherwise live the American dream.
Fingers crossed on this!
I can’t wait to see the first batch of catalytic converters off older cars, as they are
dumped into a smelter.