S. 996 — Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act of 2025

This section amends the Clean Air Act's motor vehicle emissions waiver provision (42 USC 7543(b)) by (1) adding a new criterion under which the EPA Administrator must deny a waiver if state standards directly or indirectly limit the sale or use of new motor vehicles with internal combustion engines (as defined in 40 CFR 63.9375, as in effect on January 1, 2023); (2) prohibiting the Administrator from deeming any state standard amended after enactment within the scope of a pre-enactment waiver; and (3) requiring revocation of waivers granted from January 1, 2022, through enactment if they fail to comply with the new criterion. (As background, the provision preempts state emissions standards for new motor vehicles but authorizes waivers for California and certain other states that adopted standards before March 30, 1966, if those standards are at least as protective of public health and welfare as federal standards, needed for compelling and extraordinary conditions, and consistent with federal requirements. Thus, the amendments bar waivers—and revoke recent ones—for state standards effectively phasing out sales of new internal combustion engine vehicles.)