The Politics of New York's Ban on Gas-Powered Cars

podcast from Bloomberg Law. I'm your host, David Schultz. So, as I mentioned at the top, the Governor of New York, Kathy Hokel, just signed a bill into law that permits only the sale of zero emission vehicles in her state. Of course, I left out a crucial detail here that this measure doesn't take effect until twenty thirty five. Still, this is a big deal. New York is a really huge state and it joins another really really huge state, California,

in taking this zero emission step. To find out more about what this all means and how this bill passed the legislature and wound up on Hocal's desk, her brand new desk, i should say, I turned to Bloomberg Law's Albany reporter Keisha Kluki. I wanted to get into the timing of all of this, but with Hocal signing this bill shortly after taking office and shortly after her states suffered damage from Hurricane Ida. But first I asked Keisha

what the zero emission bill actually does. So the bill looks to lower carbon emissions in the state and combat climate change. The transportation portion of the state's greenhouse gas emissions is roughly the estimate is about twenty percent comes

from the transportation sector alone. So last week, the governor signed into law a bill that would ban the use of gas powered or fossil field powered vehicles starting in twenty thirty five, which kind of aligns with California and so basically the sale and lease of new passenger cars and trucks would not be allowed. And then further it looks at medium duty and heavy duty vehicles for twenty forty five is the deadline for those, so you could still keep your gas powered car, but you would not

be able to buy a new one. Theoretically, the state is aiming to get more electric vehicle sales up, combat climate change and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. So this is a big deal. To put it mildly. Tell me about the legislative journey here. I have to imagine that, you know, this bill had a lot of twists and turns as it went through the state House in Albany. Yes, so this actually was originally passed in April of this year, so we've been waiting a little bit for the governor

to sign it. Of course, there was some scandals and other things. We have a new governor now, so there was a lot and they, you know, finally signed the bill into into place, and the state actually in twenty nineteen passed ledgegislation that aims to lower carbon emissions and combat climate change. And so I think that the lawmakers were looking for something that would sort of take the transportation sector alone into mind, so it will sort of

work in conjunction with the state's climate law. There were plans to have regulations, but the lawmakers I actually was speaking to one of them yesterday and they said, you know, we really wanted to codify this in a law that way. It wasn't just a goal. It was actually going to get done. And it's also sort of done to spark, hopefully spark this in other states, so that you know, we're seeing nationally and reduction in greenhouse gases and combating

climate changes in lieu of federal regulations. So I have to ask you, you know, the bill passed the legislature in April, sat on the Governor's desk, and now all of a sudden it gets signed. This timing maybe it's incidental, but it feels like it can't be coincidental. As you mentioned New York as a new governor. Did that play into this at all? It makes me think that maybe former Governor Cuomo was opposing this bill and that the current Governor, Kathy Hochel is in favor. Is that the case,

I don't think so. Of course, we'll never fully know what was going on behind the scenes with the Cuomo administration in the last few months, in particular of his administration, but we do know one of the reasons why Hochel made this one of her first priorities. I mean, she was sign She came into office at the end of August,

so she's maybe week three at this point. But we had that big hurricane and storm, and it caused a lot of damage in New York City, and of course these storms are becoming more frequent due to climate change. And so I think this was one of her first acts as governor where she could sort of do a cause and effect. We had these stor ms, we need

to act. I can sign this legislation. And I also think it's interesting as we look to you know, Kathy Hokel has already said she plans to run again in twenty twenty two for governor, and she needs to make a lot of big steps. So I think her taking this was also sort of a political move and could bring a lot of sort of the left leaning Democrats over to her side and make a name for herself nationally by signing this right away as a priority. That's

a good point. I hadn't thought about that that. Yeah, she's from upstate New York. I think she's seen as more of a moderate, so this could sort of show up her left flank. Let's talk about the right flank. Though. I have to imagine that Republicans in Albany probably weren't too keen on this. You know. Maybe also the automotive industry wasn't too thrilled about this, or maybe I'm wrong. Who are the opponents of this? Who were the people who didn't want to see this get passed. Yeah. I mean,

actually surprisingly it went through pretty small. I think there were concerns about vehicle sales and the business sector of that, but a lot of car manufacturers, including you know, very big names GM, Volkswagen, they've all already sort of committed to increasing their electric vehicle selection, and the more electric vehicles that we have on the market, the less expensive and more affordable they are, so I think that they

were already kind of moving that way. We saw California already has this band in place also for twenty thirty five. There's some some federal discussion on regulations of that, but I think the car manufacturers are sort of reading the tea leaves that if California does it, other states are not far behind. And New York State is a pretty

large portion of the market. So even though technically you could drive to Pennsylvania in twenty thirty five and purchase a car, it's not going to be the line share of sales. I mean, I know, I personally am not planning on driving multiple hours to find a car that theoretically there's gonna be rebates, there's gonna be electric vehicle stations everywhere, so definitely the state has a lot to do to actually put this in place, but I think

that the industry is already headed in that direction. Well, let's talk about California, because, as you mentioned, they are they're we're the first out of the gate. New York is seems like number two is the bill that Governor Hoke Will just signed. Is that identical to what California has in place or are there some some differences. It's

pretty close. I'm not as familiar with California's law, but I do know that the New York state law makers mirrored it after California's law, and they did that on purpose. And I think New York really wants to be, you know, one of the main actors nationally for this. We have, like I said, we have that climate goal. We're also part of the regional greenhouse gas emissions partnership between states. So I think New York is looking to be a leader.

I think they would have gone quicker if it seemed feasible. And I think there are some you know, green groups that have said we'd we'd like to see this done more quickly. But I think it's it's easier definitely to model after another state and sort of take those considerations. You know, how did they ramp up electric vehicle stations, how did they make this accessible for uh, you know, low income you know, people with low income housing may

not have access to stations. And then also it's part of sort of this larger goal of like, it's not just about electric vehicles, it's also about partnering with the infrastructure of our transportation system. So you may not be able to have an electric vehicle, but you can have you know, the train or other sort of cleaner modes of travel. So it's going to be sort of a wide look at it, and I think using the model of California really helps the state jump start into that

and learn lessons learned kind of thing. The other thing that the governor did, though, that I think got a lot less attention, understandably, but it's still very important. Is she also set up this air pollution directive to her cabinet. Yeah. So, and again this one was also modeled after California, the California Clean Truck Rules, and would require truck manufacturers to

transition to clean electric, zero mission vehicles. And when we're talking about this, we're thinking, like, you know, the low income communities that are typically in these environmental deserts where they have a lot more you know, there's a lot more asthma, there's a lot more health issues that are directly correlated with the air quality and what's near them. And so I think there's a lot of social justice discussion going along with the climate combating the climate change,

and this is directly would directly affect those communities. So a percentage of the truck sales of these you know, truck manufacturer sales would have to be zero emissions starting with the twenty twenty five model year, and there would also be other compliance options that allow sort of truck fleets to kind of implement this and replace as they go.

So I think that they're trying to be cognizant of the industry but also trying to make sure that the health of these communities is better, along with of course

the emission reduction, which is a benefit. Yeah. Well it just when I read your story about that, it made me think that, right, you know, vehicles emit greenhouse gases, but they also made a lot of other stuff that is bad for the environment, bad for health, bad for air pollution, and so it seems like Governor Hochel wanted to sort of tackle those those two things at the

same time. Definitely. I mean I used to live on Long Island and the air there especially I'm upstate now in Albany area, and the air there is just so thick with you know, traffic emissions and there's a lot of ozone issues, and it really is as someone who has asthma, it really makes a big difference in just your daily living, ability to walk outside and and you know, especially if your transportation is is walking to work, you need to be able to walk to work and you

need to be healthy to do that. So yeah, finally, let's talk about the national picture here. As you mentioned, you know, this law applies only in New York, of course, which means that after twenty thirty five, theoretically you could, you know, go to New Jersey, or go to Connecticut, or go to Pennsylvania and buy a gas powered car and drive it back into your home state. How many people will be willing to do that, who knows, but

that's still possible. But that made me think that, you know, there's a limit to what New York or California can do on its own here. Is that something that the governor and state legislators are acknowledging that, you know, we're trying to regulate vehicles here, but this is a situation where we need a federal response, a multi state response. So I actually had this question come up from readers after our story came out. You know, well, can I

just drive to Pennsylvania. Can I purchase my car elsewhere? It seems like the state's gonna lose car sales. And I called up one of the bill sponsors and just asked him point blank, you know, I'm reading the red the legislation, and it doesn't have anything specific to you know, the red maybe at the registration point it needs to be done. And he said, you know, I'm not really worried about it, which I was pretty surprised at. And he said, you know, this is something that other states

are starting to look at. The Other states haven't passed it yet, but we have seen some laws in other states that were going through the process, and and sort of I think by California and New York started getting the ball rolling, other states will follow. And he seems to think that states surrounding New York will be doing this by twenty thirty five, so it won't be a

problem as much as people are thinking about. But it definitely would be easier if there was a federal regulation for all of these air standards that we're looking at. You know, the air in one state doesn't just stop at the line. And so when we're talking about carbon emissions and you know air pollution, you know, they affect everyone and so and we as a nation, you know, need to be deciding what are our goal is in terms of emissions. And so I think New York sort

of had this. The lawmakers had this lofty goal and lofty idea and are sort of hoping that other states and the federal government will follow suit. All right, Well, that was Keisha Kluky speaking to us from Albany, New York. Keisha, thank you so much for talking with us, Thanks for having me. And that'll do it for today's episode of Parts Pervilion. If you want more environmental news, check us out on Twitter. We use the handle at environment. Just

that at environment, I'm at David B. Schultz. If you want to sell me a car, gas powered or otherwise, all offers will be entertained. Today's episode of Parts per Billion was produced by myself, David Schultz. Parts Pervilion was created by Jessica Coombs and Rachel Dagle and is edited by Rebecca Baker and Chuck McCutcheon. Our executive producer is Josh Block. Thank you everyone so much for listening. Hey there, I'm Kyle Trigg's Politics editor for Bloomberg Government, and I'm

Greg Juro, Senior elections reporter for Bloomberg Government. Check out our podcasts, down Ballot Counts. Each week, Greg and I will be breaking down all of those down ballot elections that make up the fight for the US Congress. Listen and subscribe to Downballotcounts from Bloomberg Government wherever you get your podcasts.