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Response to Youngkin’s EV mandate announcement
Legislators respond to Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares's announcement that they intend to remove Virginia from the mandate requiring all new electric vehicles to be sold by 2035.
ICYMI: “In 2021, the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation authorizing Virginia’s Air Board to adopt California’s ‘Advanced Clean Cars I’ regulation pursuant to Section 177 of the federal Clean Air Act,” the governor’s office said in a press release. “The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently adopted ‘Advanced Clean Cars II,’ set to take effect January 1, 2025, which would require 100% of new cars sold in Model Year 2035 to be electric vehicles. An opinion from Attorney General Jason Miyares confirms the law, as written, does not require Virginia to follow ACC II. Therefore, the Commonwealth will follow federal emissions standards on January 1, 2025.”
Miyares also released a statement: “EV mandates like California’s are unworkable and out of touch with reality, and thankfully the law does not bind us to their regulations. California does not control which cars Virginians buy and any thoughts that automobile manufacturers should face millions of dollars in civil penalties rather than allowing our citizens to choose their own vehicles is completely absurd.”
