Existing law designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution and as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. On September 23, 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order No. N-79-20 establishing a goal that 100% of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks be zero-emission by 2035.
This bill would declare that, to help achieve the state's climate and air quality goals and mandates, it is the goal of the state, as established in Executive Order No. N-79-20, that 100% of in-state sales of new passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks be zero-emission by 2035. The bill would require the state board, to the extent consistent with state and federal law, to develop and adopt passenger vehicle and light-duty truck regulations requiring increasing volumes of new zero-emission vehicles sold in the state towards the target of 100% of in-state sales by 2035.