WVADA NEWS 16 Sen. Capito Leads the Charge to Reverse EV Mandate The California Air Resources Board passed a regulation in 2022 called Advanced Clean Cars II, or ACC II. It mandated that 35% of vehicles an automaker produced and delivered for sale, which can include vehicles wholesaled to dealers and not yet sold to retail customers, in the state of California for the 2026 model year must be zero-emission (electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles or plug-ins, though PHEVs only receive partial credit). Automakers faced fines of up to $20,000 on each noncompliant vehicle, or they had the option to purchase limited available credits from other automakers. Five other states — Oregon, Washington, New York, Massachusetts and Vermont — also followed the requirement starting with the 2026 model year, measuring the percentage of vehicles wholesaled in those individual states. In the 2027 model year, the regulation increased to 43%, and five additional states and Washington, D.C., joined at the higher percentage: Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, New Mexico and Rhode Island. The requirement then rose eight percentage points per model year until it required that all vehicles sold by an automaker in each state be ZEV in the 2035 model year and beyond. A special thank you to Sen. Capito, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who introduced a resolution against the California ACCII EV mandate. Sen. Capito led the Senate through a series of procedural steps earlier this summer to allow the CRA to be considered, which ultimately passed through Congress. Sen. Capito was a keynote speaker at WVADA’s annual convention this June, where she discussed her role in eliminating the ACCII EV mandate. After the Senate voted 51-46 on the motion to proceed to Sen. Capito’s Advanced Clean Cars II CRA, she delivered remarks on the Senate floor detailing the process the Senate has taken on the CRA and background on her efforts to block the EV mandate. To watch Sen. Capito’s full remarks, scan the QR code. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhRWIun7Mek EXCERPTS AS DELIVERED BY SEN. CAPITO The following are Sen. Capito’s floor remarks on the issue: “Over the past two decades, California has used its waiver authority to push its extreme climate policies on the rest of the country, which was never the intent of the Clean Air Act.” “California’s Advanced Clean Cars II program requires all, and I did say all, vehicles to be sold in that state, Washington, D.C., and 11 other states that have adopted California regulations, all cars would be zero emission vehicles by 2035, meaning in one decade, these states totaling 30% of the new car market will have a full ban on the sale of gasoline powered vehicles, and not just those, but also on traditional hybrids as well.”
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