Tag: California

Proposition 65: OEHHA Floats “Omnibus 2026” Amendments—QR Code and Naturally Occurring Exemption Take Center Stage

Cheryl S. Chang and Brittany Wei ●

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) is in the early stages of what it is calling the “Omnibus 2026” package of amendments to the Proposition 65 regulations—a set of eight proposed changes covering among other things, tailored warnings for machinery parts, alignment of the short-form warning, the naturally occurring exemption for chemicals in food, internet purchase warnings, retailer responsibility, and the potential addition of quick response (“QR”) codes as a warning method. The full draft regulatory text is available here: Topics of Proposed Regulatory Changes in Omnibus 2026.

Key Dates

OEHHA held its pre-regulatory workshop on the draft language on July 30, 2026. The written public comment period is open through September 8, 2026. No formal rulemaking hearing has been noticed yet, as OEHHA has stated that a formal rulemaking will be published sometime in the future, at which point a separate notice, public comment period, and response-to-comments process will begin. In the meantime, the next industry-wide forum on Proposition 65 developments is the Proposition 65 Clearinghouse’s Annual Conference on August 31, 2026, in San Francisco, a conference at which OEHHA is a supporting sponsor and typically participates in panel discussions.

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SCOTUS Declines to Review California’s Clean Air Act Preemption Waiver—Current Implications and Expected Response from the Incoming Administration

Sedalia E. Jones-Kennelly ●

Update and Background

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Diamond Alternative Energy, LLC v. EPA, et al,[1] recently declined to review whether the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) exceeded its authority by granting a preemption waiver for California’s greenhouse-gas emission standards and zero emission-vehicle mandate.[2]

Under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”), “emission standard” refers to the legal limit on the amount of a specific air pollutant that can be released from a source, like a vehicle or factory.[3] CAA Sections 209(b) and 209(e) permit the State of California to request a waiver or authorization from federal preemption of state-level regulatory programs for certain vehicle emissions.[4] The EPA must grant the CAA waiver before California’s rules may be enforced.[5]

Petitioners—a group of states led by Ohio and various fuel industry organizations led by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers—asked the Court to review the D.C. Circuit Court’s April 2024 decision siding with the EPA. The Circuit Court had found that some petitioners lacked standing to pursue these claims, while others failed on the merits, and upheld the Agency’s authority to grant California this waiver.

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The Beginning of the End of the Internal Combustion Engine? California to Phase Out Gas-Powered Vehicles by 2035

Robert C. Levicoff ●

Robert C. Levicoff headshot image

A leader in stringent auto emission regulations, the State of California recently took additional steps in its effort to further protect the environment. On August 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) voted to require all new cars and light trucks sold in the state to be “zero-emission” by 2035.[1] The plan, officially known as the CARB Advanced Clean Cars II rule, was originally introduced via executive order by Gov. Gavin Newsom nearly two years ago.[2]

The plan mandates that “[i]t shall be a goal of the State that 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks will be zero-emission by 2035. It shall be a further goal of the State that 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the State be zero-emission by 2045 for all operations where feasible and by 2035 for drayage trucks. It shall be further a goal of the State to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible.”[3]

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