Publication: San Francisco Gate
After an unsuccessful legislative effort this year that would have eventually banned the sale of new gas-powered cars in California, Assemblyman Phil Ting returned Monday with a more modest proposal he hopes will move the state toward the same goal.
AB40, introduced by the San Francisco Democrat, asks the state Air Resources Board to come up with a “comprehensive strategy” by Jan. 1, 2021, to ensure all cars sold in the state are free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
Ting’s proposals come as the federal government is preparing to move in the opposite direction on zero-emission cars. Larry Kudlow, the White House’s chief economic adviser, said Monday that President Trump’s administration will try to end subsidies for electric car purchases, Bloomberg reported. Kudlow didn’t specify how the administration would scrap the subsidies, which Congress put in place, but suggested it could happen in 2020 or 2021, according to Bloomberg.
Ting put forward a bill in the last legislative session that would have imposed the ambitious goal, but it never got a hearing.