Kevin Kiley takes aim at Gavin Newsom's California EV mandates

David Lightman and Lia Russell, The Sacramento Bee on Apr 3, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., proposed congressional legislation on Thursday to overturn Gov. Gavin Newsom’s electric vehicle mandates.

Kiley called his proposal “a major step in our efforts to Newsom-proof California,” glibly referring to special legislation the governor signed earlier this year to prepare the Golden State for litigation with the White House.

Kiley introduced three measures to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency regulations that allowed California to adopt a ban on the use of gas-powered vehicles, heavy trucks, and diesel engines over the next decade.

He received strong support, notably from House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., the fourth-highest ranking House Republican.

Kiley’s legislation would reverse EPA decisions on waivers given to California to allow the state to mandate the sale of zero-emission trucks and ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035.

He also proposes ending the EPA ruling allowing the state to implement its most recent nitrogen oxide engine emission standards, which create burdensome and unworkable standards for heavy-duty on-road engines.

A Newsom spokesperson referred a request for comment to the California Air Resources Board, whose spokesperson, Lindsay Buckley, said what Kiley was proposing was unprecedented.

“By using the Congressional Review Act, the Trump EPA is doing what no EPA under Democratic or Republican administrations in 50 years has ever done, and what the U.S. Government Accountability Office has confirmed does not comply with the law,” Buckley said via email.

Kiley has been a frequent vocal critic of Newsom and his policies. He helped lead the unsuccessful 2021 recall of the governor, and made a bid for the job himself that year.

“The Newsom administration’s irrational plan to ban gas-powered cars and trucks is an affront to the freedom of Californians and an economic burden to the whole country,” Kiley said in a statement Thursday.

“The Biden administration aided and abetted this insanity with special waivers,” he said. “With the Congressional Review Act resolutions introduced today, we have an opportunity to return to economic reality and restore common sense.”

Kiley took several more shots at Newsom via a video posted to X later Thursday.

He claimed the governor was “destroying” Medi-Cal after the state missed a federal deadline Monday to increase pay for doctors who see low income patients, and the governor said the state needed to borrow $6.2 billion to keep the program, which insures a third of all Californians, afloat through the end of June.

Officials blamed the shortfall on increased pharmaceutical costs and larger-than-expected enrollment, including for undocumented people.

Newsom told reporters last month that it was “not on his docket” to end coverage for undocumented people.