The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency today announced that they will move to adopt California-style clean car emissions standards. Senator Andrew Mathews (R-Princeton) issued the following statement:

“This is bad policy being implemented the wrong way:

“First and most importantly, it’s going to make cars more expensive for Minnesotans. We have a lot of farmers, miners, heavy industry workers, and blue-collar workers who need pickups. They aren’t a luxury. They are a necessity. These new rules will lead to fewer pickups available and more expensive cars overall. It is wrong to keep hammering folks who are already going through hard economic times.

“Second, this is yet another egregious example of Gov. Walz trying to bypass the legislature. It is an affront to our constitutional system: the governor is directing his agencies to categorically adopt the standards of another state, without the input of our legislative branch, and without allowing Minnesota to make any changes or improvements to fit our unique communities. We are effectively giving up our authority to California bureaucrats.

“The legislature must have input. As a Senator, I am accountable to the people of Senate District 15. If they don’t like the principles I believe in or the laws I vote for, they have the ability to vote me out of office. This is what our country was founded on. Government bureaucrats are not accountable to the people, and should never adopt a policy this controversial through rulemaking.

“Last session, I authored a bill that would prevent this exact circumstance. It would have stripped the MPCA’s ability to set these standards without going through the legislature. It passed multiple committees and the full Senate but was blocked in negotiations. I will bring that bill back again during the new session. I will continue fighting to protect Minnesotans from these absurd rules.”