The Senate voted Thursday to repeal an EPA waiver that allowed California to ban the selling of new gas-powered passenger vehicles by 2035, which may in effect void the same rule adopted by the Murphy administration in 2023.
By a 51-44 vote, the Senate voted to nullify the measure that California enacted in 2022.
In 2023, the governor adopted California’s rules, known as Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II). These regulations mandated that half of all new vehicles sold in New Jersey must be electric by 2027. They also included a full ban on new gas-powered vehicle sales starting in 2035. New Jersey became one of 12 states adopting the rule.
Both congressional houses have now passed a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the EPA waiver authorizing California’s Advanced Clean Cars II ban on sales of new gas, diesel and traditional hybrid vehicles.
Doug O’Malley, state director of Environment New Jersey, told ROI-NJ that the action by the Senate was “a legally questionable vote that will be litigated; it will not stand,” adding that “the feds are moving backwards while the industry is moving forward. This is a clear 180 on the national level.” The Senate overruled the guidance of the parliamentarian, a nonpartisan staffer who interprets the Senate’s rules, and voted to overturn a waiver that permitted California to set its own air pollution standards for cars that are stricter than national regulations.
John Boesel, president of CALSTART, an organization focused on decarbonizing transportation, said “In a massive handout to special interests, the Senate today took a radical action that creates enormous policy uncertainty for the entire transportation industry,” said John Boesel, president of CALSTART, an organization focused on decarbonizing transportation. “This move concedes the industries of the future to global competitors, will increase air pollution, accelerate global warming and result in significant job loss. This vote upends decades of policy that has successfully resulted in cleaner air and the growth of a robust clean transportation industry. It is a brazen, yet futile, attempt to bring the clean transportation industry to a sudden halt.”
The resolution now goes to President Trump’s desk for signing. Ending EV mandates in the United States was one of the promises the president made when he took office.
“We thank the members of the Senate who voted pragmatically and with common sense to overturn California’s ban on sales of new gas cars,” said NJBIA Deputy Chief Government Affairs Officer Ray Cantor. “The California mandate, which New Jersey had chosen to follow, would remove basic freedoms of choice, exacerbate income inequality in our state, and add greatly to New Jersey’s lack of affordability.”
With the California waiver overturned, it is assumed all states will need to conform to the EPA standard, which is less stringent but also sets emissions targets that will require EV mandates.
“We are confident that EPA will work with industry on a workable rule that will allow for the natural growth of the EV market and hopefully allow for other lower carbon options to be deployed,” Cantor said. “New Jersey can also continue to incentivize the purchase of EVs and charging stations.”
The ACC II rules have faced considerable pushback in New Jersey since their adoption in 2023. Last year, a bipartisan coalition of hundreds of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware union workers, business leaders, community advocates, energy producers and local and state elected officials rallied at the Statehouse in Trenton calling on the EPA and the Murphy administration to change course on the policy of banning sales of gas-powered cars.
“NJ CAR applauds the U.S. Senate for passage of three Congressional Review Act (CRA) Resolutions that will end the impossible EV auto and truck mandates created for California but adopted in New Jersey without a vote by our legislature,” said Laura Perrotta, President of New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers.
Within the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority’s 13-county region, electric vehicle registration jumped by 42% between December 2023 and December 2024. The NJTPA estimates that EVs comprise about 3% of all vehicles in New Jersey. As of December 2023, the latest year available, 134,753 electric vehicles were registered in New Jersey.
O’Malley preferred to focus on the work the state and companies are doing to address the pollution risk that trucks in New Jersey pose to residents, especially those in urban areas. “Trucks are 10% of the vehicles on the road and create 50% of the pollution,” he said. “New Jersey is a corridor state and there is more pollution in corridor states. New Jersey is making big investments in infrastructure and incentives for clean trucks. We need to have green supply chains and fleets,” he said, citing entities such as Ikea and Hackensack Meridian for their green efforts.
