Attorney General Bonta, Governor Newsom Slam U.S. Senate’s Illegal Efforts to Stop California’s Clean Vehicle Policies

SACRAMENTO– California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the state will file a lawsuit as Republicans in the U.S. Senate target California’s clean vehicles program.

“With these votes, Senate Republicans are bending the knee to President Trump once again,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “The weaponization of the Congressional Review Act to attack California’s waivers is just another part of the continuous, partisan campaign against California’s efforts to protect the public and the planet from harmful pollution. As we have said before, this reckless misuse of the Congressional Review Act is unlawful, and California will not stand idly by. We need to hold the line on strong emissions standards and keep the waivers in place, and we will sue to defend California’s waivers.”

“This Senate vote is illegal,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “Republicans went around their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent. We won’t stand by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again — undoing work that goes back to the days of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan — all while ceding our economic future to China. We’re going to fight this unconstitutional attack on California in court.”

Background

Under the direction of President Trump, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transmitted three California waivers – for the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII), Omnibus and Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulations - to Congress as rules subject to Congressional Review Act (CRA) procedures. Earlier in the month, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives illegally used the CRA to attempt to undo these waivers, which authorize California’s clean cars and trucks regulations. This move breaks with decades of bipartisan recognition that these waivers are not “rules” subject to the CRA and directly contradicts the determinations of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian, both of whom concluded that the CRA’s process does not apply to California’s waivers.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to set federal emission standards for air pollutants from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines that cause or contribute to air pollution and endanger public health or welfare. Under the Clean Air Act, California may adopt emission requirements independent from EPA’s regulations, and EPA is required to waive preemption for those requirements, absent certain limited circumstances not present here.

For more than 50 years, California has exercised its right under the Clean Air Act to pursue solutions that address the persistent air pollution challenges that our state faces.