The US House of Representatives passed legislation this week voting to overturn California’s Advanced Clean Truck Rule and Advanced Clean Cars II Rule. However, (much like a lot of the breaking news we’ve seen the past few months), the decision may not be allowed to be upheld legally.
Why not?
The House reversed the measures by using the Congressional Review Act, which allows them to reverse regulations with a simple majority, and no filibuster opportunity from the opposing side. That’s standard operating procedure essentially for reversing changes made by a prior Administration when a new one comes in.
So what’s the issue? The issue is that both the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Senate Parliamentarian have ruled that because the authority granted to California to set its emissions policy came from an EPA waiver, rather than a rule, it is not subject to Congressional Review. Rescission of the waiver would have to take place, presumably, by the issuing authority, which in this case is the EPA. It’s not that simple either, because the EPA director can’t simply reverse course, there is a lengthy appeals process involved.
This is one to watch federally.
On the State level, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced earlier this month that the State would have “enforcement discretion” on ACT compliance. The DEP will not seek enforcement action on manufacturers for 2025 and 2026 model year trucks. Because ACT requirements mandate a percentage of vehicles be ZEV, and there isn’t demand for ZEV trucks, conventional engine vehicles in the 2025/26 model years were also not available, because their sales would have put manufacturers in violation of the ACT regulation. You can read the DEP statement here:
While no enforcement on ACT violations provides some relief, it does not address the cost & infrastructure challenges that underlie the difficulty in compliance facing both manufacturers and consumers. We will continue to watch for further movement on the Clean Trucks Rule, specifically in Massachusetts.
Stay tuned!