Members of the Delaware GOP, including State Reps. Michael Ramone and Richard Collins, file a complaint against DNREC, alleging it did not follow proper procedures in adopting the Advanced Clean Cars II regulations.
DNREC finalized Delaware’s version of the Advanced Clean Cars II regulations in November, calling for 43% of new cars and trucks sent to the state for sale to be zero-emission vehicles, increasing to 82% in 2032.
Attorney and Delaware GOP Chair Julianne Murray says DNREC violated the Delaware Administrative Procedures Act by failing to provide a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, which requires an agency to consider specific methods of reducing the burden of a regulation on individuals and small businesses.
The adopted clean car regulation states it “will not establish reporting requirements or substantive additional costs for individuals or small businesses,” therefore DNREC claimed exempt from providing an analysis.
Murray and the plaintiffs believe not providing the analysis is a procedural violation.
“The way that the regulation is written, it absolutely is going to impact individuals and small businesses, and so the purpose of this was to make them go back and do it the way that they’re supposed to," Murray says.
Murray says the plaintiffs are seeking a declaratory judgment, in which DNREC would be ordered to retract the regulation and re-file it with a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.
“This is what the rule says, and this is what they did. It is our position that they didn’t follow the process and that they should have to follow that process, and until they do, that it ought to be invalid," she says.
The complaint was filed in Sussex County with the Superior Court on Tuesday – Murray says they are currently waiting for the summons to be served.
