President Petersen Announces Victory in Lawsuit Opposing California's Electric-Truck Mandates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                         

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

President Petersen Announces Victory in Lawsuit

Opposing California's Electric-Truck Mandates

PHOENIX, ARIZONA—Senate President Warren Petersen is celebrating a victory against a radical and costly rule imposed by the State of California requiring trucking operators to buy expensive electric trucks and retire their diesel-fueled models.

After President Petersen and the Arizona Legislature joined a coalition of 16 states to challenge the rule in federal court last year, California agreed to repeal the 'Advanced Clean Fleets' mandate. The rule would have applied to truck fleets headquartered in Arizona, if they operated within California, creating dire impacts to the supply chain and dramatically raising costs for local trucking companies and their customers. The forced transition could have resulted in costs well over $100,000 more per electric truck.

"For years, California has operated with near impunity as its leaders passed unconstitutional regulations that brought great harms to Arizona consumers," said President Petersen. "In the absence of our Attorney General holding California accountable to the rule of law, the Arizona Legislature gladly stepped up to protect our citizens from this egregious abuse of power and emerged victorious. We are grateful for the coalition of attorneys general who helped force California to capitulate from its misguided position on this illegal mandate, and we vow continued vigilance on behalf of the citizens we serve."

As part of the settlement, California regulators pledged to commence rulemaking proceedings to formally scrub the rule from the books. The state's regulators also conceded that they cannot enforce California's 2036 ban on the sale of internal-combustion trucks unless and until the ban receives a Clean Air Act preemption waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Over the past two-plus years, President Petersen has led or joined more than 60 legal efforts in state and federal courts to defend the rule of law on behalf of the Arizona Legislature.

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For more information, contact:

Kim Quintero

Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus

kquintero@azleg.gov