{"id":77247,"date":"2025-12-01T21:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/77247\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T21:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:39:08","slug":"california-hits-brakes-on-carpool-access-for-low-emission-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/77247\/","title":{"rendered":"California hits brakes on carpool access for low-emission vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Los<\/a>Traffic moves along a freeway in Los Angeles. REUTERS\/Mike Blake<\/p>\n

A two-month grace period for electric vehicle drivers is coming to an end after a new state law took away HOV privileges<\/a> on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n

The Clean Air Vehicle Decals<\/a> program, which lasted nearly 24 years in the state, allowed drivers with the colorful key-shaped sticker a pass to cruise in HOV lanes regardless of occupancy.<\/p>\n

The program was set to expire on Sept. 30, despite California requesting an extension<\/a> until January 2027. A failed federal extension under the Trump administration only solidified the date.<\/p>\n

The California Air Resources Board<\/a>, a state agency that focuses on air pollution, said this administration is the first to break years of federal extensions for the program despite its proven success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program has been a highly successful and cost-effective way to accelerate clean vehicle uptake and raise consumer awareness of their benefits,\u201d CARB said.<\/p>\n

The failed extension was not exactly a surprise. In July 2025, when H.R. 1<\/a> (commonly known as \u201cthe One Big Beautiful Bill Act\u201d) was signed into law, it promptly ended an initiative that gave $7,500 tax credits<\/a> for new EV purchases.<\/p>\n

Further, California has seen the brunt of EV-incentive cuts during the Trump administration. In June, President Donald Trump signed three resolutions that would halt the advancement of a key California initiative to phase out diesel engines and gas-powered cars by 2035. <\/p>\n

Eleven states adopted the initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating California\u2019s electric vehicle mandate,\u201d Trump said, per CNBC<\/a>. \u201cAnd they\u2019re never coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California would sue the Trump administration.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s all-out assault on California continues \u2014 and this time he\u2019s destroying our clean air and America\u2019s global competitiveness in the process,\u201d Newsom said.<\/p>\n

The CAVD program is the latest in clean-air initiative cuts, but whether cuts will continue is in question. For now, more than a million drivers can no longer reap the carpool lane benefits during rush hour.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Traffic moves along a freeway in Los Angeles. REUTERS\/Mike Blake A two-month grace period for electric vehicle drivers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[9458,44417,15755,44504,44505,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-77247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-california-air-resources-board","9":"tag-carpool-lanes","10":"tag-electric-vehicles","11":"tag-hov-lanes","12":"tag-low-emission-vehicles","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-headlines","15":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77247","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=77247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}