The state of California today withdrew its request for the Clean Air Act waiver needed to implement its Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation, a significant victory for those who seek a technology-neutral approach to reducing carbon emissions. The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and Performance Racing Industry (PRI) celebrate this important development, which halts an effort by California to overstep its constitutional and state statutory authority, and clears the path for the automotive aftermarket industry to continue leading the way toward cleaner, safer vehicles through innovation and American ingenuity – particularly through alternative-fuel innovations, replacing older engine technologies with newer, cleaner versions, and converting older internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to new electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles.
SEMA in October filed suit in federal court challenging the regulation on the basis of significant constitutional questions. The lawsuit remains active as the organization considers the implications of California’s action.
SEMA now calls on California to immediately cease and desist the implementation and threatened enforcement of the Advanced Clean Fleets policy, as the law is clear in regards to the state needing federal approval for its implementation. Not to mention, the policy is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“SEMA and its thousands of members in the automotive aftermarket industry are thrilled to learn of California’s decision on Advanced Clean Fleets, which represents a reprieve from the significant national implications that the policy would have wrought. Advanced Clean Fleets would have crippled interstate commerce by implementing harmful EV mandates on the trucking fleets that drive our nation’s economy. Now, we demand that California immediately halt its premature implementation and enforcement action already underway. The law is clear that, without its waiver, California has no foundation upon which to implement this policy,” said SEMA President and CEO Mike Spagnola. “SEMA will continue our efforts to ensure the defeat of any shortsighted attempts to enact EV mandates, and instead champion a technology-neutral approach that rewards innovation, ingenuity, and practicality.”
SEMA champions a technology-neutral approach that fosters innovation and ingenuity. The association will continue efforts to preserve Americans’ rights to vehicle choice and the automotive aftermarket industry’s ability to design, manufacture, and bring to market products that help solve the emissions challenge.
BACKGROUND
SEMA and The Work Truck Association (NTEA) in October filed suit in the U.S. District Court’s Eastern District of California against the California Air Resources Board (CARB), seeking immediate declaratory and injunctive relief to stop electric vehicle mandates CARB intends to implement through its ACF regulations.
CARB’s ACF regulation includes requirements that only zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) may cross within California’s borders, regardless of which state the vehicle was purchased or registered. Vehicles covered by the regulation include everything from heavy-duty tractors with sleeper cabs to work trucks, pickup trucks, and light-duty package delivery vehicles. Interstate motor carriers and others whose trucks do not comply the ACF regulation would be barred from operating within the nation’s largest single-state economy for even a moment.
In their lawsuit, SEMA and NTEA contend that CARB’s actions far exceed California’s constitutional and state statutory authority and will have a dire effect on an industry that historically has led the way toward cleaner, safer vehicles through innovation and American ingenuity–particularly through alternative-fuel innovations, replacing older engine technologies with newer, cleaner versions and converting older internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to new electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles.
SEMA is not an anti-EV organization; rather, the organization is steadfast in its belief that a technology-neutral approach is the best way to achieve lower vehicle emissions. By declaring one technology as the preferred solution of government, California would have kneecapped other potential solutions, regardless of their promise for delivering the results the state seeks. Now, innovators and the free market will have an opportunity to provide meaningful contributions to efforts to eliminate carbon emissions.
This story was originally published on January 15, 2025. 
