20th Anniversary of California’s Clean Car Standards (AB 1493)

The USC Schwarzenegger Institute and Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator host the 20th-anniversary celebration of the signing of California’s Clean Car Standards, AB 1493.

Signed into law in 2002 by California Governor Gray Davis and authored by Assemblymember Fran Pavley, Assembly Bill 1493 became the first measure in the United States to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles. Throughout the years, Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown, and Gavin Newsom have successfully defended AB 1493 against challenges at both the state and federal level, ensuring California can continue to protect the health of its citizens by setting stricter clean air standards.

In 2009, AB 1493 was adopted as the national standard for regulating tailpipe emissions by the Obama Administration and was once again adopted as the national standard by the Biden Administration, following the Trump Administration’s efforts to rescind the rule. Since Governor Davis signed the bill into law 20 years ago, 17 states have adopted California’s clean car standards as their own.