For many, clean transportation just means more electric vehicles. While that is often the focus of measures dealing with clean transportation in the General Assembly, and a sentiment reinforced by the list of bills below, it is worth noting that the actual Delaware Chapter position is that clean transportation means a lot of different things in different contexts. We fight for increased access to public transportation, improved safety for pedestrians and cyclists, and encourage more dense development that allows our families can get around without a car at all if they so choose. The cleanest car on the road is the one that you never have to drive!
SB 140 and HB 92: Roll back of the Clean Cars Program
Final Status: Stalled in Committee
Sierra Club Work: The Sierra Club has been a leader in Delaware on the issue of vehicle electrification and in supporting and promoting the Advanced Clean Cars program. We pushed for nearly a decade to adopt the program, and during Governor Carney’s final term, we ultimately adopted it via a lengthy and divisive regulatory process. The regulations were immediately challenged in court by the Caesar Rodney Institute, the Delaware Republican party, and Republican lawmakers. Ultimately, the Republicans, represented by then-chair Julian Murray, dropped the lawsuit. However, every year since the adoption, there have been multiple bills filed to roll back the regulations, change the standards around standing to allow the lawsuit to restart, or put restrictions on all state agency-level regulations moving forward. The Delaware Chapter has been a leader in the fight against these kinds of bills moving forward with the help of our partners at Delaware Nature Society, Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Defence Council, and American Lung Association.
For both of these bills, the result was the same: they stalled in committee; however, the process leading up to this outcome differed for each chamber. In the House, the bill sponsor did not work with anyone to draft his bill, including the car dealerships in Delaware, whom he stated he wrote the bill to help. That ultimately was enough for members of both parties to refrain from advancing the bill. In the Senate, we were able to clearly articulate that, unfortunately, President Trump worked with Congress to pass legislation (likely to be declared illegal by the Supreme Court) that would pull back already approved waivers under the Clean Air Act, which allowed the program to exist in the first place. Thus, Delaware did not need to pass a bill since the regulations were already no longer enforceable. There is currently a lawsuit from multiple states, including Delaware, challenging that federal legislation.
It is likely that there will be new legislation from Republicans next year to continue fighting against the program.
HB 164: Related to various DMV Fees, including an EV Registration Fee
Final Status: Signed by the Governor
Sierra Club Work: Thirty-nine states have a registration fee specific to Electric Vehicles in the United States. We knew it was only a matter of time before Delaware joined the list. When that time came, we were ready. The new Secretary of DelDOT stated in an interview that she was considering an EV registration fee, and we immediately reached out to meet with her. Before we could get a meeting on the books, the sponsor of the bill reached out for our thoughts and any suggestions we had on the draft bill. Needless to say, we did.
We were able to work with the sponsors of the legislation and the Secretary of DelDOT to ensure that we created a truly equitable fee schedule, resolving the underlying issues in how we fund our roads through fuel taxes and registration fees. Namely, the growth in electric vehicles pales in comparison to the growth of more fuel-efficient and hybrid vehicles. EVs don’t pay fuel taxes, hybrid vehicles pay far less in fuel taxes than a normal gas car, and plug-in hybrids technically could also pay nothing in fuel taxes, depending on how much you drive in electric-only mode. So we worked together to create a registration fee structure that ensured everyone paid roughly the same amount into the transportation trust fund to help support our roads and bridges, no matter what kind of car you drive. For gas cars, you pay roughly $150 a year in fuel taxes, so that was the number we centered around when we were looking at fuel taxes and registration fees for EVs, plug-in hybrids, extended-range EVs, and traditional hybrids.
Now, the bill did more than that and, most controversially, it increased the document fee by 1%. The document fee serves much the same function as a sales tax on vehicles, except that it exclusively funds DelDOT. We did not consult on the document fee, but we did provide some insight to some legislators who were concerned that EV drivers would pay less in document fees and so really this was a giveaway to EV drivers (even though it created a fee specifically for them). As we told legislators, current EVs tend to be more expensive than a gas car and even some hybrids, so it is likely that EV drivers will pay slightly more in document fees than gas car drivers. But in reality, any expensive car will cost more in document fees because the fee is a percentage of the purchase price of the car. So if you are low- or moderate-income and buying a $10k used car, you will pay far less than someone buying a new $60k car, EV or gas. Additionally, the document fee is already coded; this just increases it by 1%, which is, on average, a total amount of about $400-$500. Note that this would be included in your loan for most car buyers buying from a dealership, and if you break that down into your monthly payment over a 5-year loan, it comes out to be about $8 more a month on the high end.