Move would keep NJ and others from following California regulations
WASHINGTON – Republicans in the House this week moved to block California from carrying out state requirements to sell more electric trucks, limit a type of pollution that generates smog and ban the sale of gasoline-fueled automobiles by 2035.
The resolutions to thwart these three policies from California, the biggest automobile market in the country, passed the House with support from the fossil fuel industry, the trucking lobby and business groups.
New Jersey, like other states in the Northeast, follows many of California’s air pollution and transportation standards that govern cars, trucks and heavy-duty trucks, and the resolutions this week will have massive environmental ripple effects if President Donald Trump signs them into law.
The resolutions now go to the Senate, where a parliamentary snag could deny passage.
EV advocates warn NJ likely to miss 2025 goal
New Jersey’s congressional delegation split almost entirely on party lines, with Republicans voting for the resolutions and Democrats against.
Democrats Donald Norcross (D-1st) and Josh Gottheimer (D-5th) did not vote. Norcross is recovering from a medical emergency that concerned his gallbladder and has not been in Washington for weeks, though his office said Thursday he was discharged from the hospital.
A Gottheimer spokesman said the congressman would have voted “no” on the three resolutions.
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