Will California’s Senate Follow Assembly’s Lead And Pass Costly Auto Regulations?

Washington, D.C., April 26, 2002 — The California State Assembly has passed new regulations that could increase the cost of new cars and SUVs in the state by thousands of dollars, and now the state Senate is considering the same proposal.  If it becomes law, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) would set new limits on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions each new car produces, a misguided attempt to respond to concerns about climate change.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

“The bill explicitly prohibits CARB from banning the sale of any class of vehicles. However, government need not ban a product to restrict its manufacture, sale, or use. Tax a thing, and there will be less of it,” said Marlo Lewis, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.  “A carbon dioxide standard would function as a tax on gasoline-powered vehicles.” 

Larger vehicles, the same vehicles that are statistically safest in all kinds of crashes, will be hit hardest by these restrictions.  They will make larger, safer cars and SUVs more expensive in California, putting them out of reach of an increasing number of working families.

Energy Expert Available for Interviews

Marlo LewisSenior Fellow(310) 779-9532[email protected] Recently featured on: MSNBC, the Washington Post,and Electricity Daily.

CEI, a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group founded in 1984, is dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information, please visit our website at www.cei.org.