Congress moves to strip states of power to set cleaner air standards
S. 1072 — Stop CARB Act of 2025 · Filed by Mike Lee (R-UT) · 17 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 14, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill repeals California's authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own vehicle and engine emission standards and to grant waivers allowing other states to adopt California's stricter standards. It eliminates all existing waivers California has issued and denies any pending waiver applications, effectively blocking California and other states from enforcing emission rules stricter than federal standards for cars, trucks, construction equipment, locomotives, and farm vehicles.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to strip states of emission-standard authority and eliminate existing waivers, preempting state environmental regulation in favor of weaker federal standards. This is functionally a deregulation bill disguised as a procedural amendment to the Clean Air Act.
What the text implies
- Eliminates California's de facto role as a national emission-standard setter; other states that have adopted California standards (currently 17+ states) lose the ability to maintain those standards unless they independently adopt them, creating regulatory fragmentation.
- Retroactively voids existing waivers already granted to states, potentially exposing those states to legal challenges and forcing them to revert to federal standards mid-implementation.
- Removes a key mechanism for public-health-driven environmental regulation; states can no longer use emission standards as a tool to address local air quality crises or health disparities in polluted regions.
- Shifts regulatory authority from elected state officials and the EPA (which grants waivers) to Congress, reducing democratic responsiveness to local environmental conditions and constituent demand for cleaner air.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens lose the ability to live in states with cleaner air standards. Eliminating California's waiver authority and existing waivers removes a proven mechanism for reducing air pollution and improving public health in participating states. The bill transfers regulatory power away from states and citizens toward federal standards, which are typically less stringent.
Who stands to gain
- automotive manufacturers (reduced compliance costs for stricter emission controls)
- heavy equipment manufacturers (construction, farm, locomotive engines)
- fuel refiners and importers (reduced need for specialized low-emission fuel blends)
Named in the bill
California Air Resources Board (CARB), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Section 209 of the Clean Air Act, Section 177 of the Clean Air Act, automotive manufacturers, construction equipment manufacturers, farm equipment manufacturers, locomotive manufacturers
Where it stands
17 cosponsors: 17 Republicans.
- Mar 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 14, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
8 lobbying clients named this bill on 11 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $7,290,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 31 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 88% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Lee, the sponsor, reported $241,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Koch Government Affairs, LLC — $2,760,000 on 1 filing
- Union Pacific Corporation — $1,770,000 on 2 filings
- Bnsf Railway Company — $960,000 on 1 filing
- Specialty Equipment Market Association — $760,000 on 2 filings
- American Trucking Associations — $720,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,906 characters) on Aug 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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