Vermont executive order delays enforcement of clean-car and clean-truck rules while seeking evidence of dealer "ratioing"

The administration issued an executive order that pauses formal enforcement of Vermont’s Advanced Clean Cars (ACC2) and Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) requirements for an 18-month period while it establishes reporting and complaint procedures and pursues parallel rule amendments.

The pause is limited: enforcement discretion is conditioned on manufacturers and dealers not engaging in "ratioing" (allocating internal-combustion vehicles only in proportion to EV sales) and on meeting new reporting obligations. Secretary Moore described the action as “an overview of the executive order” and said the step was taken to preserve consumer choice while CARB rulemaking and federal uncertainty play out.

Why it matters: the administration told the joint Senate committees on Transportation and Natural Resources and Energy that model-year 2026 vehicles will begin arriving on dealer lots between July and September, raising the prospect that dealers could be offered internal-combustion vehicles only in proportion to EV allocations. That practice, officials and senators said, could constrain availability of desired vehicles for Vermont buyers and for municipal and fleet purchasers such as school districts and towns buying snowplows.

What the order does and does not do - The executive order does not rescind Vermont’s ACC2 or ACT rules; it makes use of enforcement discretion instead. “We didn’t rescind the current rules,” Secretary Moore said. The rules remain in place, the administration emphasized, while enforcement is exercised selectively. - The order has an 18-month effective term and requires…