Beginning in August of this year, Maine lawmakers will again have oversight of agency rulemaking related to vehicle emissions standards, including the establishment of statewide “zero-emission requirements.”
On Friday, Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed LD 2261 into law, officially guaranteeing that legislators will have the final say over the adoption of vehicle emissions rules by state agencies.
Interest in ensuring this oversight gained momentum last year after the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) began considering the adoption of California’s Advanced Clean Cars II program following the submission of a petition by the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM).
The proposed rules would have mandated that the vast majority of new car sales in the state be comprised of “zero-emissions vehicles” (ZEVs) — a label encompassing both electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids — within the next few years.
LD 2261 was sponsored by Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips) and was cosponsored by a number of lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle, including prominent Democrats Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) and Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland).
Among the Republican cosponsors of this legislation were Rep. Richard H. Campbell (R-Orrington), Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor), Rep. Reagan L. Paul (R-Winterport), Rep. Katrina J. Smith (R-Palermo), Sen. Russell Black (R-Franklin), Sen. Peter Lyford (R-Penobscot), and Sen. Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook).
LD 2261 was not, however, the first attempt by elected officials during this legislative session to increase their ability to oversee the BEP’s rulemaking.
Towards the end of last year, Rep. Joshua Morris (R-Turner) petitioned the Legislative Council to allow lawmakers to consider a bill this year that aimed to achieve largely the same goals as LD 2261.
After being shot down by the Council during an initial vote on the proposed bill, Rep. Morris appealed their decision. Upon reconsideration, the Council ended up in a 5-5 tie over the measure, meaning that the bill was not given the opportunity to move forward in the legislative process.
LD 2261, however, was unanimously recommended for passage by the Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee at the beginning of April and both chambers of the Legislature voted last week in favor of adopting the bill without taking a roll call vote.
[RELATED: Push for Oversight of Rulemaking for Vehicle Emissions Standards Gains Ground in Augusta]
When this bill was first proposed earlier this year, it included a provision that would have retroactively apply these oversight requirements to the controversial, California-style mandate. This clause was later taken out, however, after the BEP voted 4-2 in opposition to the proposed rule change.
[RELATED: Maine BEP Rejects Controversial EV Mandate]
Under the Maine Administrative Procedures Act, rulemaking by a state agency falls into one of two categories: routine technical or major substantive.
While routine technical rulemaking occurs entirely within a department, major substantive rules are subject to the legislative review process, as described under 5 M.R.S. §8072.
Agency rule changes are only categorized as major substantive if lawmakers have passed legislation explicitly deeming them to be.
Although Maine law used to require under 38 M.R.S. § 585-D that rule changes related to vehicle emissions standards be major substantive — and thus subjected to legislative oversight — lawmakers repealed that provision in 2005.
With this portion of the law no longer on the books, the recently-rejected mandate was automatically categorized as routine technical when it was first taken up by the BEP, consequently insulating it from legislative input.
Now that LD 2261 has been signed into law, all vehicle emissions rules — including those “to establish zero-emission requirements” — that are adopted or amended by the BEP as of August 1, 2024 will be classified as major substantive, ensuring legislative oversight from that point forward.
Also included in the newly-signed legislation is a requirement that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) submit an annual report beginning on January 1, 2025 that details the status of California’s Advanced Clean Cars II program and its adoption by other states.
This report must also include any updates concerning federal vehicle emissions control requirements.
In addition to this, LD 2261 dictates that the Maine DEP — in collaboration with Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO), the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF), and the Efficiency Maine Trust — must produce a one-time report by January 1, 2025.
These agencies are tasked with jointly “evaluating relevant barriers to the adoption of
zero-emission vehicle standards or requirements in [Maine].”
These agencies will also be responsible for researching the rate of EV adoption by Mainers and identifying strategies that would reduce the barriers associated with increased EV usage in the state, particularly in more rural areas.
More specifically, this report must include an “analysis of zero-emission vehicle adoption rates in the State relative to national trends and identification of barriers to achieving higher adoption rates, identification of strategies to reduce those barriers with particular consideration given to barriers present in rural communities and an evaluation of policies or market trends for overcoming those barriers.”
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27485 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27485">7 Comments
I wouldn’t trust any democrat lawmaker to not mandate this in the near future.. After seeing how they operate it is obvious that their agenda is more in line with California than Maine.
They can take this ev nonsense and put it where the sun don’t shine along with the wind and solar hoaxes. More gov’t butting in where it doesn’t belong telling you what’s best for you. You will drive an ev and you will like it.
Have these morons ever considered the FACT that EVs do not function in cold weather ? Charging times are tripled (at best) and road salt will create a dangerous situation with lithium battery failures, and fires, which will spew TONS of carcinogenic gas into the “zero emission” atmosphere. I say we do a test run first, and give all the police, State, and Local, brand new EVs so we can see how it works out. Either way I’ll never own one.
Maine is not the place that E V s work well the list is long.
There should be no EV mandates until the cars are redesigned to operate safely and reliably in a cold climate. Between the fire hazard and other issues with Lithium Ion batteries a change in battery technology will probably be needed to make them safe and reliable. There are also serious questions about the grid’s ability to handle the power demand especially with the simultaneous push for electric heat.
There should be NO MANDATES AT ALL!
Climate change is real BUT it’s natural and cyclical with humans being able to do nothing about it. It should also never be conflated with pollution which no sane person wants. The Leftists pushing this dim-witted agenda can take their EVs, solar panels, windmills, and let’s add heat pumps into the mix, and stick them where their heads are.