New California environmental law puts thousands of truck registrations on hold

Starting this month, the California Department of Motor Vehicles will only register vehicles that comply with emissions regulations.

Image: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

Of the tens of thousands of notices issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for trucks with expiring registrations this month, around 4,000 informed owners their vehicles were noncompliant with state air quality regulations and therefore could not be registered.

The registration holds stem from a law that took effect January 2020 requiring trucks to comply with the Truck & Bus Rule, the state’s key regulation governing diesel emissions, or be subject to DMV restrictions.

The rule’s phased-in requirements mandated heavy-duty commercial vehicles meet particulate matter filter requirements beginning Jan. 1, 2012. Older heavier trucks had to be replaced starting Jan. 1, 2015.

All told, about 420,000 heavy-duty trucks are registered with the California DMV. Of those, about 80,000 are not compliant with current Truck & Bus Rule requirements, according to Bruce Tuter, manager of compliance assistance and outreach for the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

As a result, thousands of new DMV registration holds are expected in February and each of the remaining months of 2020 as additional truck registrations expire. 

The DMV will continue compliance verification through 2023, when, because of the phased-in requirements, all trucks registered in California must be outfitted with a 2010 engine or the equivalent. Another 100,000 trucks will be impacted between 2021 and 2023, Tuter said.

Largely because of the new law, CARB  is seeing “a huge spike” in the number of calls to the agency’s diesel help line, according to Tuter.

As of Jan. 22, around 17,000 people had called the help line during the month of January, and thousands more had emailed. The average number of calls per month is around 5,000.

The DMV rule is part of California’s aggressive push on environmental regulations targeting transportation-related diesel emissions. California air quality ranks among the worst in the nation, largely driven by pollution from cars and trucks.

Upcoming FreightWaves Events
Fraud & Security

Freight Fraud Symposium

Double brokering. AI deepfakes. Identity theft. Freight fraud is an existential threat to the industry. Get ahead of it.

May 20, 2026
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame • Cleveland, OH
Register Now
AI & Technology

Supply Chain AI Symposium

Past the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.

July 15, 2026
The Old Post Office • Chicago, IL
Register Now
Rail & Policy

Future of Rail Symposium

Reshoring is rewriting freight demand. Join shippers, rail executives, and government officials to shape the next decade.

July 28, 2026
The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN
Register Now
Fraud & Security Freight Fraud Symposium May 20 • Cleveland, OH

Double brokering. AI deepfakes. Identity theft. Freight fraud is an existential threat to the industry. Get ahead of it.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame • Cleveland, OH Register Now
AI & Technology Supply Chain AI Symposium Jul 15 • Chicago, IL

Past the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.

The Old Post Office • Chicago, IL Register Now
Rail & Policy Future of Rail Symposium Jul 28 • Chattanooga, TN

Reshoring is rewriting freight demand. Join shippers, rail executives, and government officials to shape the next decade.

The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN Register Now

18 Comments

Comments are closed.

Linda Baker, Senior Environment and Technology Reporter

Linda Baker is a FreightWaves senior reporter based in Portland, Oregon. Her beat includes autonomous vehicles, the startup scene, clean trucking, and emissions regulations. Please send tips and story ideas to lbaker@freightwaves.com.