Hacker News Reader

Comment by gamblor956 | Hacker News Reader

However there is nothing to stop California from indexing new car registration fees to some sort of measurement of MPG, pollution, etc. If they tack on HUGE fees to some of the worst offenders, wouldn't it have the same effect?

That's a great suggestion and actually one of the ones that has been tossed around in the Capitol if SCOTUS upholds Trump's decision, and possibly even if it doesn't.

View on HN

If the fees are applied only against non-California cars then it is likely those fees will be held to violate the interstate commerce clause due to being de facto discriminatory.

Not that I agree with the outcome in this case. The interstate commerce clause is a horrible abuse. But that is what it is.

Agreed, which is why California would apply them to all cars sold in CA or brought into the state.

Essentially, they would just be an extension of existing state vehicle registration fees.

The test for violation of the interstate commerce clause doesn't care about intent. So, quite interestingly, if car manufacturers hadn't decided to only target CA emissions standards they would have been able to bring suit against CA if creating two models of everything was too difficult.

Would the solution of only creating one model and selling that have been a valid reason for a federal court to dismiss such a suit? I think it unlikely, as that would give CA de facto control over a huge amount of economic activity outside of its borders.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com