The U.S. Senate has approved the reversal of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s approval of a waiver for California and 11 states to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

The House passed the reversal under Joint Resolutions 87, 88, and 89 three weeks ago.

Under California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan, plug-in hybrids and used gas cars can still be sold.

The resolution now goes to the White House. The Associated Press reports President Donald Trump is expected to sign it, along with two other measures to block California’s rules that the Senate is poised to pass.

“The GOP effort to kill the rules could have a profound impact on California’s longtime efforts to curb air pollution,” the article states. “The push comes after Senate Republicans established a new exception to the filibuster on Wednesday to allow them to weigh in on the issue.

“California makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, giving it significant power to shape purchasing trends. Vehicles are one of the largest sources of planet-warming emissions.”

John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators), said in a written statement Thursday that the EV sales mandates were never achievable.

“Automakers warned federal and state policymakers that reaching these EV sales targets would take a miracle, especially in the coming years when the mandates get exponentially tougher,” he said.

“There’s a significant gap between the marketplace and these EV sales requirements. In reality, meeting the mandates would require diverting finite capital from the EV transition to purchase compliance credits from Tesla. This doesn’t help EV adoption or build charging infrastructure but does create a domino effect leading to job and manufacturing losses, higher auto prices, and fewer vehicle choices.”

Bozzella also noted that the issue doesn’t lie with California. Instead, the issue stems from the 11 states that adopted California’s rules “without the same level of readiness for EV sales requirements of this magnitude,” he said.

California, Oregon, Washington State, New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont adopted ACC II to begin in model year 2026. Colorado, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Maryland adopted ACC II to begin in model year 2027.

“The Senate (and the House before it) deserve enormous credit,” Bozzella said. “Instead of kicking the can down the road or waiting for regulatory failure and its consequences, they voted to restore a degree of balance to U.S. vehicle emissions regulations. The auto industry has invested billions in electrification and has 144 electrified models on the market right now.

“Again, the concerns were about the mandate, not the technology. You can be against the [Advanced Clean Cars] ACC II EV mandates (we were) and believe that transportation is trending toward a range of electrified products like battery electric vehicles, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids (it is). That’s what balance looks like. And balance is not only good for consumers but essential for the U.S. auto industry to remain healthy and globally competitive.”

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) also commended the Senate vote, saying that it’s “rejoicing in the successful, bipartisan effort to end EV mandates — the result of a monumental, years-long effort to educate voters and lawmakers on the importance of preserving vehicle choice in the U.S.”

“By halting a California-led effort to ban internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles through EV mandates for 40% of the nation’s population, the Senate, and before it the House of Representatives, has shown courage in the face of radical policymakers and exhibited confidence in American innovation and ingenuity borne out of the automotive aftermarket industry,” SEMA stated in a press release Thursday.

However, SEMA clarified that it is and never will be anti-EV but “champions a technology-neutral approach that fosters innovation and ingenuity.”

“The association will continue efforts to preserve Americans’ rights to vehicle choice and the automotive aftermarket industry’s ability to design, manufacture, and bring to market products that help solve the emissions challenge,” the release says. “California’s Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) regulation jeopardized a significant sector of the American economy.

“A third of the specialty automotive aftermarket is based on ICE technology. Today’s Senate vote to end California’s national EV mandate and ICE vehicle ban protects $100 billion of annual economic impact to the nation’s economy and the more than 330,000 American jobs these policies threatened. With its actions, Congress has safeguarded this important hub of innovation and American engineering prowess, providing stability for millions of American households employed by the aftermarket.”

SEMA President and CEO Mike Spagnola added that Congress’s vote “gives the nation’s automotive marketplace much-needed stability, which will deliver renewed investment and sufficient resources to aid our industry in doing what we do best: innovating the future of automotive technology.”

According to SEMA, because of its efforts “to educate voters and lawmakers on the damage of EV mandates on families,” Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Vermont backed off pledges to follow California’s emissions policies, while North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, West Virginia, and eight other states passed SEMA-supported “ban the ban” legislation to ensure such mandates never take effect again.

New EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a written statement that the EPA is “glad to see that Congress recognized the truth.”

“EPA’s California waivers are rules that would create a negative impact on all Americans by driving up costs while limiting consumer choice, and acted accordingly,” he said. “This action, once signed by President Trump, not only prevents California from implementing their attempt at EV mandate actions but ensures that they can never do something similar again.”

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