Trump Signs Resolutions that Repeal California Emissions Waivers
Repeal includes waiver that allows the state to end the sale of new gasoline-fueled or diesel-fueled passenger cars and trucks by 2035.
President Donald Trump signed into law three resolutions that revoke California’s vehicle emissions waiver, including the waiver that allows the state to end the sale of new gasoline-fueled or diesel-fueled passenger cars and trucks by 2035.
Trump’s approval of the bills on June 13, 2025 delivers on an executive order, issued on his first day in office, that established that it is U.S. policy to “eliminate the ‘electric vehicle (EV) mandate.” This policy requires the federal government to terminate “state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles.”
“We officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating California’s electric vehicle mandate, once and for all,” Trump said at a signing ceremony.
The Clean Air Act (CAA) authorizes California to request waivers from the law’s emissions standards in order to set its own, higher emissions standards, which other states can adopt. The U.S. Senate voted in May to pass three resolutions under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that repeal three waivers:
H.J. Res. 87 overturns the waiver for the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation, which requires truck manufacturers to sell zero-emission trucks as an increasing percentage of their annual California sales from 2024 to 2035.
H.J. Res. 88 overturns the waiver for the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which requires the phase-out of the sale of new gasoline-fueled or diesel-fueled passenger cars and trucks by 2035.
H.J. Res. 89 overturns the Heavy-Duty Omnibus rule, which establishes more stringent emissions standards for heavy-duty engines, including reducing NOx emissions by 90%.
California Challenges Use of CRA
The CRA allows Congress to overturn certain federal agency actions by issuing a joint resolution of disapproval within 60 days of when the rule has been published in the Federal Register and received by Congress. The Congressional Research Service, however, earlier stated that California’s CAA emissions waivers cannot be reviewed under the CRA because a waiver is not a rule as defined in the CRA. The GAO also issued an opinion stating that California’s emissions waiver is not a rule “for purposes of CRA and, thus, not subject to the requirement that it be submitted to Congress and the Comptroller General before it may take effect.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the administration, challenging the federal government’s “unprecedented and unlawful use” of the CRA to overturn the California waivers. The attorney generals of Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington joined in the lawsuit.
Newsom Recommits to ZEVs
On the same day Trump signed the bills into law, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that directs the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to “develop and propose an Advanced Clean Cars III regulation consistent with State and federal law that reduces greenhouse gas, criteria air pollutant, and toxic emissions from passenger cars and light-duty trucks, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.”
The order states that the regulations are to “advance progress towards the deployment of clean air vehicles and technologies in the State, as an additional measure to build on existing regulations or as an alternative measure for deployment if the federal disapprovals of the Advanced Clean Cars II, Advanced Clean Trucks, and Heavy-Duty Omnibus regulations are not invalidated in court.”
The order also directs CARB to track car and truck manufacturers that still follow the state’s ZEV sales targets for potential incentives for ZEV purchases.