Eight states file court brief challenging California’s electric vehicle mandate

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. (Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led a coalition of eight state attorneys general, including South Dakota’s, in filing a court brief supporting Ohio’s lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over California’s electric vehicle mandates.

California’s mandate requires all new cars and vehicles sold in California to be electric by 2035. The mandate passed in August 2022 by the California Air Resources Board was intended to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Bird and others allege the EPA violated the states’ equal sovereignty rights when the agency allowed California to pursue its own regulatory standards while preventing other states from doing so.

Bird said in a press release that California’s electric vehicle mandate will also increase costs for consumers in other states and limit options for new cars.

“I will not stand by as American families are forced to pay the price for California’s green car mandates,” Bird said in a press release. “California and the Biden-Harris EPA are eliminating purchasing options for families across the country and mandating they buy more expensive electric cars at a time when they are already struggling to make ends meet. The law is clear; California does not have the power to mandate the cars Iowans drive.”

Bird is joined by the Republican attorneys general from the states of Idaho, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming.

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According to the amicus brief, California’s extreme market influence leads to its decisions forcing the automotive industry across the nation to change in order to match California regulations.

“That mandate surpasses the current market demand for such vehicles, compelling manufacturers to invest far more resources than they would absent the regulations. Those added expenses are inevitably passed down to consumers, including Petitioner States,” the brief reads. “Petitioner States are forced to subsidize California’s stringent regulatory framework while also being barred from adopting their own.”

This is not the first time Bird has fought against California electric vehicle rules.

Back in May, Bird joined a lawsuit challenging a California regulation that would have banned internal combustion engines in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045 and the sale of larger diesel vehicles in 2036.

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