Tag: HB 1965

State Senate Committee Blocks Repeal of Law Linking Virginia to California Emissions Rules

Eric Burk

Senate Democrats killed legislation to repeal law that links Virginia’s emissions standards to California regulations on Tuesday, while a similar bill advanced out of committee in the House of Delegates on Wednesday. The Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Conservation Committee bundled several similar bills from Republicans into a vote on Senator Stephen Newman’s (R-Bedford) SB 779 and voted eight to seven to kill the legislation after about an hour of discussion of the bills with legislators and the public.

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Republicans Want to Untie Virginia’s Vehicle Emissions Laws From California

Eric Burk

Virginia Republicans have introduced several bills to repeal legislation that ties Virginia’s vehicle emissions rules to California’s standards. Republican efforts to repeal Democrat-passed pro-environment legislation failed in the Senate in 2022 and are likely to face the same fate this year, but Republicans are drawing new urgency from a summer 2022 move by California regulators to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.

“This law, adopted during the two years when Democrats had total control of Virginia’s government, puts unelected bureaucrats from California in charge of our emission standards,” Delegate Kathy Byron (R-Bedford) wrote in a Sunday op-ed in The Richmond Times-Dispatch. “That’s not the worst thing about the new rules. The worst thing is that they just won’t work.”

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Republicans Say California’s 2035 Ban on Gasoline-Powered Cars Will Apply in Virginia

Eric Burk
Glenn Youngkin

California regulators moved forward with a plan to ban the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035, a policy that also impacts Virginia and other states that have chosen to link their emissions law to California’s. In the wake of the decision reported by The New York Times, Virginia Republicans are once again expressing frustration over the 2021 legislation that tied Virginia’s regulations to California’s zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) requirements.

“In an effort to turn Virginia into California, liberal politicians who previously ran our government sold Virginia out by subjecting Virginia drivers to California vehicle laws,” Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a Twitter statement Friday.

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Governor Ralph Northam Signs Major New Clean Car Standards Bill

Eric Burk

Governor Ralph Northam announced newly-signed legislation Friday that will require approximately eight percent of model year 2025 vehicles sold in Virginia to be zero-emissions vehicles. HB 1965, introduced by Delegate Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico), adds Virginia to the list of states following California’s vehicle emissions standards, which are stricter than the federal standards Virginia currently follows.

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