Virginia Senate Kills Proposal to Repeal the Use of California’s Emission Rules

A Virginia Senate committee has killed a proposal backed the Republican governor that sought to repeal the state’s adoption of California’s vehicle emission standards which promoted zero-emission vehicles over fossil fuel ones.
In 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) introduced a rule requiring a ban on the sale of fossil fuel vehicles starting in 2035, encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles. Since Virginia passed a “Clean Cars” law in 2021 that linked the state with California’s emissions standards, the state’s office of the attorney general indicated that Virginia would also have to follow standards set by California.
House Bill 1378, backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, sought to prohibit Virginia’s State Air Pollution Control Board from adopting or enforcing vehicle emission standards that align with CARB rules. On Tuesday, the Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee voted 8–7 along party lines to kill the proposal, with Democrats voting against it….