US House of Representatives Passes Bill to Deny the “California Car Mandate”

On September 14th, the US House of Representatives approved the “Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act” (H.R. 1435) to protect Americans’ freedom of choice when purchasing vehicles. The bill passed on a bipartisan vote of 222 – 190. Eight democrats supported the bill: Representatives Caraveo (CO), Costa (CA), Cuellar (TX), Davis (NC), Golden (ME), Higgins (NY), Perez (WA), and Vasquez (NM). EMA and its 48 state and regional trade associations supported this bill in a letter to Capitol Hill yesterday. The PPA would like to thank Representative John Joyce (R-PA) for introducing this important legislation along with Bob Latta (R-OH), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Jay Obernolte (R-CA).

The legislation would reject California’s request for a Clean Air Act (CAA) waiver to require 100 percent of all new light-duty vehicle sales to be electrified by 2035 in the state. Every American will be impacted by this ban, whether they are in one of the 17 states (including Pennsylvania) that copies California vehicle laws or whether they are a consumer looking to buy an affordable new pickup truck in the next few years. This would constitute 40 percent of the entire nation’s new car sales. Specifically, the Preserving Choice in Vehicles Purchases Act would restrict the EPA from issuing any waiver for new regulations that would ban the sale or use of new motor vehicles with internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). Preserving consumer choice is critical to maintaining competition in the automotive markets and ensuring all Americans have access to reliable, clean and affordable vehicles.