What you need to know: House Republicans used an illegal tactic to attempt to overrule California’s clean cars and trucks program that has decreased smog and protected Californians’ health.

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement today in response to the House vote targeting California’s clean vehicles program.

The Republican-controlled House illegally used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) today to attempt to repeal California’s Clean Air Act waivers, which authorize California’s clean cars and trucks program. This defies decades of precedent of these waivers not being subject to the CRA, and contradicts the non-partisan Government Accountability Office and Senate Parliamentarian, who both ruled that the CRA’s short-circuited process does not apply to the waivers.

Trump Republicans are hellbent on making California smoggy again. Clean air didn’t used to be political. In fact, we can thank Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon for our decades-old authority to clean our air.

The only thing that’s changed is that big polluters and the right-wing propaganda machine have succeeded in buying off the Republican Party – and now the House is using a tactic that the Senate’s own parliamentarian has said is lawless. Our vehicles program helps clean the air for all Californians, and we’ll continue defending it. Washington may want to cede our economy to China but California is standing by American innovation. -
Governor Gavin Newsom

The state’s efforts to clean its air ramped up under then-Governor Ronald Reagan when he established the California Air Resources Board. California’s Clean Air Act waivers date back to the Nixon Administration – allowing the state to set standards necessary for cleaning up some of the worst air pollution in the country. 

California’s climate leadership

Pollution is down and the economy is up. Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 20% since 2000 – even as the state’s GDP increased 78% in that same time period.

The state continues to set clean energy records. Last year, California ran on 100% clean electricity for the equivalent of 51 days – with the grid running on 100% clean energy for some period two out of every three days. Since the beginning of the Newsom Administration, battery storage is up to over 13,000 megawatts – a 1,600%+ increase.

California’s clean air authority

Since the Clean Air Act was adopted in 1970, the U.S. EPA has granted California more than 100 waivers for its clean air and climate efforts. California has always demonstrated that its standards are feasible, and that manufacturers have enough lead time to develop the technology to meet them. It has done so for every waiver it has submitted. 

Waivers do not expire and there is no process for revoking a waiver – which makes sense because governments and industry rely on market certainty waivers provide for years after they are granted to deliver clean vehicles and develop clean air plans. 

Although California standards have dramatically improved air quality, the state’s unique geography means air quality goals still require continued progress on vehicle emissions. Five of the ten cities with the worst air pollution nationwide are in California. Ten million Californians in the San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles air basins currently live under what is known as “severe nonattainment” conditions for ozone. People in these areas suffer unusually high rates of asthma and cardiopulmonary disease. Zero-emission vehicles are a critical part of the plan to protect Californians.