Saturday, 07 June 2025

Senate Blocks Blue State’s Plan To Ban Gasoline-Powered Vehicles

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The Senate voted to block California’s plan to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.

According to Reuters, the plan has been adopted by 11 other states.

The House already voted to kill California’s landmark law, so it now heads to President Trump’s desk.

Per Reuters:

The vote sends to President Donald Trump the measure to repeal a waiver granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under former President Joe Biden in December, allowing California to mandate at least 80% of vehicles be electric vehicles by 2035.

The vote is a win for General Motors, Toyota and other automakers that heavily lobbied against the rules and a blow to California and environmental groups that say the requirements are essential to ensuring cleaner vehicles and cutting pollution.

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California first announced a plan in 2020 to require that by 2035 at least 80% of new cars sold be electric and up to 20% plug-in hybrid models.

“This Senate vote is illegal,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said, adding the Senate action would cost California taxpayers an estimated $45 billion in additional health care costs. “We’re going to fight this unconstitutional attack on California in court.”

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Thursday plans to file a lawsuit in response to the Senate blocking the state’s first-in-the-nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035,” ABC7 News stated.

More from ABC7 News:

The measure overturning the rule now goes to the White House, where Trump is expected to sign it, along with two other resolutions that would block California rules curbing tailpipe emissions in certain vehicles and smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. All three measures were approved by the Senate on Thursday and by the House earlier this month.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and state air regulators say that what Congress is doing is illegal and they will sue to keep the rules in place.

“This is not about electric vehicles,” Newsom said at a news conference while the Senate was still voting on the measures. “This is about polluters being able to pollute more.”

The GOP effort could have a profound impact on California’s longtime efforts to curb air pollution. California makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, giving it significant power to shape purchasing trends – especially because about a dozen states have already followed California’s lead. Vehicles are one of the largest sources of planet-warming emissions.

Senate Democrats charged that Republicans are acting at the behest of the oil and gas industry and they say California should be able to set its own standards after obtaining waivers from the Environmental Protection Agency.

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