Virginia Untethered From California’s Nutty EV Regs
Well, God bless Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares .
On Wednesday the dynamic duo announced that they’d found a way to undo some of the damage done by the commonwealth’s Democrats when these far-left lawmakers hooked Virginia’s wagon to California’s.
You can read the attorney general’s advisory opinion here.
Let’s back up.
In 2021 when Dems were running all three branches of Virginia state government, the General Assembly recklessly passed a bill - and the loathsome Ralph Northam signed it - linking our state laws on electric vehicles to California’s.
As if California is a state that any of the 49 others would want to emulate.
California has now revised its regs on EVs effective January 1, 2025 and Mirayes opines that we’re not obligated to follow the new ones.
Hallelujah!
The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports that “The new California mandates step up the pace to require that all new car, truck and SUV sales be zero emission vehicles by 2035, with 35% of new sales being electric vehicles in model year 2026.”
“Automakers would be fined $20,000 for each non-electric vehicle sold over those targets.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin praised Miyares pointing out that Virginians deserve autonomy on issues such as forcing folks to purchase pricey electric vehicles.
Youngkin noted that with EVs accounting for 9% of vehicles sold in Virginia last year, California-mandated fines would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties that would be passed on to consumers.
“Once again, Virginia is declaring independence – this time from a misguided electric vehicle mandate imposed by unelected leaders nearly 3,000 miles away,” Youngkin said in a statement earlier Wednesday.
As electric car technology and driving range improves and prices of these cars fall, consumers will undoubtedly choose them. But coercing Virginians into cars they don’t want and fining dealers for selling what customers DO want is a fool’s errand.
At this point, EVs are substantially more expensive than gas-powered cars and those who drive long distances find the logistics of charging along the route a deal breaker. These cars may make sense for those with short commutes, but the price tags are astronomical.
Beyond that, most of us don’t want to be told what to drive by the government.
“The idea that government should tell people what kind of car they can or can’t purchase is fundamentally wrong,” Youngkin said, according to the Times-Dispatch.
He’s right. And so is the attorney general.
As we’re fond of saying, elections have consequences. Virginians voted for sanity three years ago. Thank goodness.
