Senate Passes Capito Resolution to End California’s EV Mandate

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, issued the following statement after the Senate passed her joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal California’s EV mandate through their “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulation that prohibits the sale of new gas-powered light-duty vehicles by 2035. Chairman Capito introduced the CRA last month, and pledged to end the EV mandate in December 2024.

“Today, the Senate voted to end California’s EV mandate and send my joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA to President Trump’s desk. The Biden administration and Congressional Democrats tried to block the will of the American people from this attempt by extreme unelected California and Biden EPA bureaucrats to ban gas-powered cars throughout the country, but Congress has now spoken and soundly rejected this rule. The impact of the California’s waiver would have been felt across the country, harming multiple sectors of our economy and costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process. I’m proud to have led this effort to protect American workers and consumers from this radical and drastic policy,” Chairman Capito said.

Yesterday, Chairman Capito spoke on the Senate floor outlining the importance of ending California’s EV mandate, and the Congressional Review Act process she led to repeal California’s waiver. The Chairman’s full floor speech is available here.

TIMELINE OF SENATOR CAPITO’S EFFORTS:

• February 28, 2024: Senator Capito joined Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.-05), Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), and Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.-13), in a bicameral letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan warning of the legal and economic consequences of granting a Clean Air Act waiver request from the state of California, which would enable the state to require 35 percent of automobile sales to be zero-emission vehicles in model year 2026, and finally, 100 percent of them by 2035.

• December 18, 2024: Senator Capito pledged to work to reverse the Biden administration’s lame duck action of approving California’s waiver to implement its “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulation.

• April 4, 2025: Senator Capito joined Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to introduce joint resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to repeal California’s EV waivers that prohibit the sale of new gas-powered light-duty vehicles by 2035 and set unrealistic and stringent requirements for heavy-duty trucks and heavy-duty diesel engines.

• May 1, 2025: Senator Capito applauded the House of Representatives’ passage of joint resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to repeal California’s EV waivers.

• May 21, 2025: Senator Capito spoke on the Senate floor outlining the importance of ending California’s EV mandate, and the Congressional Review Act process she led to repeal California’s waiver. 

# # #