{"id":243967,"date":"2026-03-30T21:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243967\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:54:10","slug":"house-gop-subpoenas-california-official-over-ev-mandate-emails-with-newsom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243967\/","title":{"rendered":"House GOP subpoenas California official over EV mandate emails with Newsom"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 A powerful House panel took the extraordinary step of subpoenaing a California official, claiming her agency had refused to hand over relevant records during a seven-month investigation into the state\u2019s electric vehicle (EV) mandate<\/a>, according a letter obtained by The Post.<\/p>\n

The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued the subpoena to California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez on Monday, demanding communications and documents regarding regulations that Golden State officials said would transition away from gas-powered vehicles by 2035.<\/p>\n

\u201cForcing Americans to buy unreliable, and costly, EVs would eliminate consumer choice, strain our electric grid, raise costs, and increase our reliance on entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party,\u201d House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) told The Post.<\/p>\n

The EV standards were championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and later became a template for more than a dozen other states. Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to follow the facts and demand accountability from California. I urge California to comply with this subpoena speedily and in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

A CARB spokesperson responded that the agency in the past \u201chas provided information and documents,\u201d including on \u201cCalifornia\u2019s longstanding authority under the Clean Air Act and the actions CARB has taken to protect public health and welfare in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCARB\u2019s goal is to support the Committee\u2019s legislative inquiry through a transparent, cooperative exchange of information,\u201d the rep added.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration had signed off on waivers for California to impose the regulations \u2014 but President Trump nullified the waivers<\/a> last June in response to three resolutions that passed on a bipartisan basis in the House and Senate.<\/p>\n

The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued the subpoena to California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez on Monday. X\/@lsanchez020<\/p>\n

At a White House bill-signing event, Trump boasted that the three Congressional Review Act resolutions would \u201ckill the California mandates forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Guthrie wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena that California has still been \u201cdenying auto manufacturers approval to bring vehicles to market unless the manufacturers agreed to comply with the regulations that had already been nullified through these CRA resolutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter months of negotiations, CARB\u2019s lack of cooperation with this investigation requires the issuance of compulsory process,\u201d Guthrie told Sanchez in the missive.<\/p>\n

\u201cForcing Americans to buy unreliable, and costly, EVs would eliminate consumer choice, strain our electric grid, raise costs, and increase our reliance on entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party,\u201d House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) told the Post. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The CRA resolutions targeted waivers that had allowed the state to impose higher vehicle pollution standards than are in effect at the federal level under provisions of the Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n

Those standards \u2014 such as the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT), Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) and Heavy-Duty Omnibus Law-NOx regulations \u2014 were championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and later became a template for more than a dozen other states<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act prohibits states from implementing emissions standards on new cars or engines that differ from those imposed by the federal government, unless they obtain a waiver.<\/p>\n

In June 2025, President Trump boasted that the three Congressional Review Act resolutions would \u201ckill the California mandates forever.\u201d REUTERS<\/p>\n

Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Air Resources Board shortly after joined with a group of 10 other state AGs to sue the Trump administration<\/a> for disapproving of the waivers for EV regulations in June.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s led to a lengthy federal court battle, which is currently being heard by the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n

Newsom also signed an executive order in June 2025 following the revocation of California\u2019s waivers asking CARB to submit another proposal<\/a> that would help the state transition from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

In March, the Department of Justice fired back with a suit against California<\/a> over a fuel economy regulation that the Trump administration has also seen as effectively an\u00a0EV mandate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The House committee, which began its probe in August, noted in its letter that it was specifically seeking \u201ccommunications between CARB and the California Governor\u2019s Office and the California Attorney General\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReviewing these documents and communications is vital to understanding what actions, including actions related to enforcement and implementation of the aforementioned laws and regulations, the state of California has taken thus far with respect to its new vehicle and new motor emission reduction plans following the CRA resolutions signed into law last year,\u201d Guthrie said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 A powerful House panel took the extraordinary step of subpoenaing a California official, claiming her agency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,36756,12598,657,13,1748,10104,3586],"class_list":["post-243967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-carbon-emissions","tag-electric-cars","tag-exclusive","tag-politics","tag-republicans","tag-us-house-of-representatives","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}