US House of Representatives to overturn the planned ban on combustion cars in California

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a decree in 2020 stating that only zero-emission cars may be sold from 2035. In 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) then issued a regulation to flesh out the decree, but also softened it: car manufacturers will no longer be allowed to sell pure combustion engines from 2035, but will still be allowed to sell plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). However, these must offer a purely electric range of at least 50 miles (80 kilometres) under real driving conditions. In addition, car manufacturers may not cover more than 20 per cent of their total sales with PHEVs – the remaining 80 per cent must be sold as battery-electric or fuel cell cars.

This Californian regulation on the combustion engine phase-out, which was later adopted by eleven other US states such as New York, Massachusetts and Oregon, is based on an exemption from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which allows the various states to end the sale of pure combustion vehicles. And the vote in the US House of Representatives has now been directed precisely against this EPA exemption: The House wants the corresponding regulation to be repealed.

However, the question is whether Congress even has the power to revoke the EPA’s exemption using the Congressional Review Act. In March, the Government Accountability Office declared that the exemptions cannot be revoked on the basis of the CRA, which only requires a majority in the US Senate. It could therefore be that this issue will have to be clarified in court.

The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, expressed his disappointment at the result of the vote in the House of Representatives and was combative. According to the news agency Reuters, he said that the programme would reduce pollution and was crucial in order to be able to compete with China for electric cars. “Big polluters and the right-wing propaganda machine have succeeded in buying off the Republican Party,” said Newsom.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which includes automakers such as GM, Hyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen, had warned that car companies could be “forced to substantially reduce the number of overall vehicles for sale to inflate their proportion of electric vehicles sales.” Association head John Bozzella, called the vote a “welcome – and targeted – action by the House to prevent the inevitable jobs and manufacturing fallout from these unachievable regulations.”

Earlier on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives also voted to repeal another 2023 EPA approval for California’s plans for an increasing number of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, as well as a waiver granted in December under former President Biden for California’s ‘omnibus’ rule for low NOx heavy-duty on-road and off-road vehicles and engines. Again, the question is whether Congress has the authority to do so.

In March, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would review the emissions targets set under the previous government for vehicles from model year 2027 onwards. US President Donald Trump announced this on the day of his inauguration.

Update 22 May 2025

Senate Republicans have voted to establish a new precedent, which would allow them to roll back California’s vehicle emissions standards. California seeks to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles from 2035, and had received express approval for the measure from the white house under Joe Biden, after Trump had taken issue with the state’s efforts in his first term.

With the new vote in place, the Senate Republicans can now bring up three resolutions to block the offending regulation in California, specifically, the phase out of ICE vehicles, cutting tailpipe emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and curbing smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution from trucks. These can now be overturned with a simple majority vote, which is expected to be set up soon.

“Republicans tonight cross a point of no return for the Senate, expanding what this chamber can do at a majority threshold,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

reuters.com, apnews.com (update)