By Howard Fischer
Mail | Twitter: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — Arizona lawmakers and the governor are giving up the right to try to force motorists away from carbon fuels as part of a deal to extend the Maricopa County road tax.

A provision in the deal House Speaker Ben Toma said was negotiated with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs forever precludes the state from restricting the use or sale of a vehicle if it is “based on the vehicle’s energy source.”

But the language goes even farther, blocking local governments from imposing their own standards.

The net effect would be to bar Arizona from enacting legislation like California that spells out that all new cars sold in 2035 and beyond are zero-emission vehicles. That includes battery electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles.

Gov. West Moore of Maryland earlier this year announced an identical regulation for his state. And similar plans are being considered in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Gubernatorial press aide Christian Slater would not comment about anything in the agreement. But Toma said the restriction — and tucking that new statewide restrictions into legislation that is billed about allowing Maricopa County voters to decide whether to extend a half-cent sales tax for transit — is justified.

“At this point, we felt that was legitimate,” the Peoria Republican told Capitol Media Services of adding it to the measure.

“Quite frankly, with all this talk about banning combustion engines or limiting combustion engines we are seeing in some of these other states, we felt that was the wrong policy for Arizona,” Toma said. “It was part of the negotiation. It’s in the bill.”

More to the point, he said Republicans think that deciding what people can drive is not the role of the state.

“We believe in the free market,” Toma said.

“Ultimately, people can buy electric vehicles,” he said, noting  there are a lot more options than more than a decade ago when the only realistic option was Tesla.

“If people want to buy electric vehicles for all the reasons they think they’re better, by all means, let them do that,” Toma continued. “But we shouldn’t be banning the free market or limiting the free market in any way.”

Senate President Warren Petersen said he shares that viewpoint.

“Whether to drive an electric vehicle is a decision that should be made by our citizens, not the government,” said the Gilbert Republican.

And the Democrats?

House Minority Leader Lupe Contreras said members of his party had little choice but to agree to go along.

He said Democrats had higher priority issues in that they wanted to ensure what was included in the Maricopa County tax legislation.

That specifically included ensuring there are sufficient dollars in the plan to fund not just the highways but also mass transit, which will get 37% of the estimated $20 billion raised over the levy’s 20-year life.

“We had to get as many things as we could get that were positive for the majority of Arizona,” he said.

And then there is the political reality.

“We’re in the minority,” said the Avondale Democrat. And he said things could be changed in the future — assuming Democrats would take control of both the House and Senate, something that hasn’t occurred since the 1960s.

But what has happened in other states has not necessarily required legislative approval. Instead, these plans are being advanced by governors through executive action with support from local environmental regulators.

That is what happened in California where that state’s Air Resources Board adopted rules last year requiring 35% of new 2026 cars sold in the state be zero-emissions, increasing to 68% in 2030 until reaching that 100% in 2035.

Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr called the provision in the Arizona bill outrageous, especially now with what she said is evidence that extreme weather conditions are due to climate change, which, in turn, is being driven in part by tailpipe emissions.

“And yet every step of the way they either don’t act or, in this case, take action that actually gets in the way,” she said.

“It’s insane, it’s wrong,” Bahr continued. “And I don’t know why in the world the governor’s office or proponents relative to action on climate would agree to that kind of thing.”

Toma brushed aside questions of whether the state should be doing more to deal with climate change and the effect it is having on residents and businesses — or, more to the point, not putting something in legislation about a Maricopa County transit tax extension to restrict the ability of the state to act.

“This is about transportation, fundamentally,” he said of the legislation. “This is not a debate about climate change.”

But the speaker also questioned the effects of vehicle and other emissions.

“Historically, throughout the history of the planet, climate has changed,” Toma said. “So there’s that talking point.”

Bahr said the ultimate answer for those who want to restrict the sale of gasoline and diesel-powered vehicle may have to come from Washington.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration proposed new greenhouse gas emission standards that would advance the sale of electric cars and trucks.

Unlike California, standards to be set by the Environmental Protection Agency would not spell out a specific goal for the percentage of zero-emission vehicles sold. Instead, each manufacturer would have to comply with overall emission standards, a move that should force them to produce — and get consumers to buy — sufficient electric vehicles to comply.

EPA officials estimated it would require between 54% and 60% of sales of vehicles in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles, rising to about two thirds in 2032.

“We have reestablished the United States as a leader in the clean transportation future,” said Ali Zaidi, deputy national climate advisor to President Joe Biden, in announcing the plan. “This is a moment of transformation.”

Bahr said the provision blocking state action on vehicle sales essentially amounts to lawmakers defaulting to the federal government to make such decisions.

“There seems to be no interest at the Arizona State Legislature in taking any kind of control of our future when it comes to climate change,” she said.