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Day: July 8, 2024

California’s proposed CARB rules for rail are a costly tax on consumers

Washington, D.C. – Tomorrow, the US House Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on the status of the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) In Use Locomotive Regulation. The Environmental Protection Agency is due to issue a waiver to allow the state to proceed with this plan.

State regulators want to mandate unreasonable climate standards on rail cars, as well as mandatory spending accounts that will end up costing both rail firms and the consumers who rely on them to transport their goods. This will further inflate prices across the economy while providing no useful benefits for the climate or consumers.

Yaël Ossowski of the Consumer Choice Center recently authored a policy primer on “The Consumer Case for Reimagining and Innovating Railroad Policy” with several policy suggestions for modernizing state and federal rules on rail firms.

He had this to say about the upcoming hearing in Congress, “We desperately need to think beyond emissions mandates and caps as a way to regulate vital industries that power our economy, and luckily Congress recognizes this. There  are more innovative ways to craft railroad policy for the 21st century beyond punitive and unworkable mandates that force climate agendas without understanding how they impact consumers of modest means. We should respect the principles of technology neutrality and innovation that will help speed along an energy transition faster than rules from bureaucracies. The rule as proposed by California’s environmental regulators, would do the opposite.”

In regulatory comments provided to the EPA, the Consumer Choice Center made the case against the California rule that would have ripple effects on the entire economy.

“Beyond the dubious legal and jurisdictional circumstances that propel this proposed state regulation,” said Yaël Ossowski, “We believe it would also serve to negatively harm consumers who will suffer from higher prices on end goods, fewer innovations in transportation generally because of the massive compliance costs, and would end up acquiescing most of our nation’s environmental policies to a few partisan regulators in our most populous state – policies that do more harm than good.”

The Consumer Choice Center recently published a policy primer that examines similar regulations proposed at the federal level that would also undermine innovation in the rail sector and likely result in higher costs of transportation that would be passed onto consumers.

“Rather than impose unworkable and costly environmental regulations on railroads, Americans deserve innovative railroad policies that increase competition, generate investment, and ensure that lower costs can be passed down to consumers who rely on rail for their homes and businesses. 

The current framework of the California Air Resources Board’s locomotive rules stands against the principles of consumer choice, innovation, and the American system of competition. We are glad Congress will now have the opportunity to examine it as well.”


About the Consumer Choice Center:

The Consumer Choice Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending the rights of consumers around the world. Our mission is to promote freedom of choice, healthy competition, and evidence-based policies that benefit consumers. We work to ensure that consumers have access to a variety of quality products and services and can make informed decisions about their lifestyle and consumption. 

Find out more at www.consumerchoicecenter.org

California threatens the future of open source tech and AI

SACRAMENTO, CA – This week, the California legislature will once again consider SB1047, the “Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act,” a sweeping framework that aims to regulate and issue compliance guidelines for AI large language models and related products and services.

Consumers of existing AI models and products benefit greatly from what’s happening right now in this sector, thanks to open source developers that make the ecosystem competitive, free, and accessible for all sorts of people with unique use cases in mind.

The mandates and compliance forced by SB1047 threaten innovation and should be rejected by state legislators.

Yaël Ossowski, deputy director of the consumer advocacy group Consumer Choice Center, said of SB1047:

“California’s proposed AI law would bring virtually all development to a grinding halt. This law would require developers to usher their innovations through government bureaucracies to meet various demands and standards that are neither clear nor realistic.

“Most alarmingly, the proposed bill would assign an unprecedented liability standard to open source developers, reducing the incentives for intelligent and creative coders to dedicate themselves to building the next generation of artificial intelligence technologies,” said Ossowski. “This would be perilous for emerging tech innovations that rely on open source models to exist.

“While we all understand the safety concerns that surround AI tools, the people of California – as well as the United States – cannot surrender to doomer fantasies that will only inhibit innovation and development, as well as push this out to countries and jurisdictions more willing to embrace it.

“California legislators may be eager to address the safety and security of AI tech, but it should not be done in haste lest we threaten the very benefits that many users have already come to enjoy. We hope state lawmakers revise this proposed law and support efforts that will at once support innovation, boost open source development, and assuage the fears of certain stakeholders,” concluded Ossowski.


About the Consumer Choice Center:

The Consumer Choice Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending the rights of consumers around the world. Our mission is to promote freedom of choice, healthy competition, and evidence-based policies that benefit consumers. We work to ensure that consumers have access to a variety of quality products and services and can make informed decisions about their lifestyle and consumption. 

Find out more at www.consumerchoicecenter.org

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