Virginia Democrats defeated Republican efforts once again on Tuesday to overturn the state’s electric vehicle mandate aimed at lowering carbon emissions.
The bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Richard Stuart, failed in the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee in an 8-6 party-line vote. The mandate will phase in for new cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs — ordering 35% of those sold in Virginia with a 2025 model year to be electric and 100% of new models to be so by 2035.
Legislators passed the Clean Car law in 2021, signed by former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and adopted from California’s controversial standard that dozens of states have taken up.
Republicans unsuccessfully tried to reverse the law two years ago, when California approved new zero-emission standards in August 2022 for new cars and passenger trucks — banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars starting in 2035. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) has said Virginia will reserve course on the mandate, but Democrats blocked efforts again in January 2023.
Republicans have failed to make good on their efforts to repeal the law for a third year in a row. During the 2023 election cycle, Youngkin pledged to win Republican control of state government, but instead, Democrats recaptured the House two years after losing it and held on to the Senate.
Democrats gaining control of the Virginia state legislature hinders Youngkin’s push to roll back climate policies put in place by his predecessor.
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While 17 other states have taken up California’s mandate, Youngkin believes the law should be decided on by Virginians rather than the legislature.
“It defies common sense that Democrats in Virginia have continued to outsource decision-making on energy policy,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter told the Washington Examiner in September 2023. “California’s requirements for their citizens should not be a one-size-fits-all solution for Virginia.”
