By the SEMA Washington, D.C., office
SEMA President and CEO Mike Spagnola and four SEMA members testified at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) January 10 public hearing in opposition to the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) "Advanced Clean Cars II" (ACC II) regulations to ban the sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) motor vehicles by 2035. ACC II requires that 35% of new cars, SUVs and small trucks sold in California must be zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV) starting in 2026. The regulation increases ZEV sales requirements by 6% to 8% annually through 2035, when all new vehicles sold in California must be ZEV.
Before ACC II can be implemented, CARB must receive a waiver from the EPA for the regulations to take effect. The EPA is accepting comments through Tuesday, February 27, on whether it should grant a waiver for the ACC II regulations to take effect. SEMA will be submitting a comment to the EPA in opposition to CARB's waiver request. Click here for talking points on ACC II.
"This far too-fast mandate will create a seismic shift in the automotive industry that will hurt small businesses that don't have the capacity to make the shift this quickly," said Spagnola. "While the federal government is helping some parts of the automotive industry, small businesses aren't receiving billions of dollars in government funds to fund their electric vehicle programs."
SEMA members Kim Pendergast, CEO of Magnuson Superchargers; Mike Copeland, CEO of Arrington Performance; Ian Lehn, CEO of BOOSTane; and Laurel Moorhead, regulatory compliance engineer for Transfer Flow testified before the EPA on ACC II to express their opposition to the regulation and the impact it will have on small businesses in the specialty automotive aftermarket industry if the EPA grants California a waiver.
SEMA has opposed ACC II through state and federal regulatory and legislative efforts. In July 2022, SEMA submitted comments opposing the ACC II proposal to CARB. SEMA continues to advocate for Congress to pass a bill to prohibit the EPA from issuing a waiver to California for ACC II and any other regulations that would ban the sale of new ICE vehicles. The SEMA-supported "Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act" (H.R. 1435) passed the U.S. House of Representatives in September. The bill awaits action in the U.S. Senate. Click here to send a letter to your U.S. Senators telling them to support the "Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act" (H.R. 1435/S. 2090).
For more information, contact Eric Snyder at erics@sema.org.