Legislation to require Illinois to adopt California’s vehicle-emissions standards and phase out the sale of new gas and diesel vehicles stalled in the Illinois General Assembly this spring.
Several bills were introduced that, if adopted, would have:
- Required Illinois to adopt California’s vehicle-emissions standards, eliminating the sale of traditional cars, trucks, and SUVs by 2035.
- Required governmental entities (both state and local) to transition away from traditional gas- and diesel-powered vehicles—with limited exceptions.
- Mandated that 75% of all new heavy-duty truck sales (Class 4-8) and 40% of truck tractor sales must be zero emission by 2035.
- Required businesses operating five or more medium and heavy-duty vehicles (“gross vehicle weight rating greater than 8500 lbs”) to submit vehicle and fuel information to the Illinois Commerce Commission.
This policy, if adopted by the state, would force business owners to purchase more expensive and less efficient electric vehicles. The switch to electric trucks would also drive up the cost of transporting goods—such as equipment, agricultural commodities, or retail items—as electric trucks are more expensive than traditional diesel rigs and cannot carry as heavy of loads, necessitating more trucks to carry the same quantify of goods.
An early and less comprehensive version of California vehicle-emissions proposal, HB 1634, was posted for committee, but failed to advance after considerable pushback from the public.
NFIB and other business and agricultural groups successfully opposed this proposal, bottling it up during the spring legislative session—though it could be resurrected after this fall’s election.
