Appendix 1

State of California

AIR RESOURCES BOARD

Executive Order R-12-002

Relating to the Emergency Regulatory Amendments to the Tractor-Trailer Greenhouse 

Gas Regulation

WHEREAS, the Air Resources Board adopted the Heavy-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse 

Gas (GHG) Emission Reduction regulation (Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation) on 

October 23, 2009 to reduce GHG emissions from 53-foot or longer box-type trailers 

and the tractors that haul such trailers on California highways;

WHEREAS, the Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation is set forth in sections 95300 to 95312 

of title 17, California Code of Regulations;

WHEREAS, the Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation required 2010 and earlier model year 

53-foot or longer box-type trailers pulled by a tractor on a California highway to either be 

a SmartWay certified trailer or retrofitted with SmartWay approved technologies by 

January 1, 2013, or alternatively, a trailer owner could elect to comply with an optional 

trailer fleet compliance schedule;

WHEREAS, the Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation contained an optional trailer fleet 

compliance schedule (Option 1 of the Large Fleet Compliance Plan, “Option 1”) that 

allowed owners of trailer fleets comprised of 21 or more 2010 or older model- year trailers 

to retrofit those trailers over several years (from January 1, 2011 through January 1, 2016) 

in lieu of fully complying with the trailer requirements by January 1, 2013, if they supplied 

specified information supporting their request by July 1, 2010;

WHEREAS, the compliance costs associated with the trailer requirements are estimated 

to range from approximately $1900 to $4200 per trailer;

WHEREAS, the Option 1 compliance schedule provides trailer fleet owners flexibility

to better manage their capital expenditures needed to comply with the regulation, in 

comparison to the general requirement requiring all trailers to be compliant by 

January 1, 2013;

WHEREAS, the Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation was approved by the Office of 

Administrative Law (OAL) on December 9, 2009, and became effective on 

January 1, 2010;

WHEREAS, as ARB staff began implementing the Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation, it 

received substantially fewer requests from trailer fleet owners to participate in the 

optional compliance schedules than anticipated, which led staff to believe that many 

trailer fleet owners were simply unaware of the regulation, and may have therefore 

missed the opportunity to participate in the compliance phase-in option;
Executive Order R-12-002 2

WHEREAS, in December 2010, the Board found that the economic environment in 

California and in the nation had not substantially improved since the Board approved 

the Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation in December 2008, and that the current recession 

had significantly impacted overall trucking activities, and specifically those companies 

that operate on-road heavy-duty vehicles in the normal course of business;

WHEREAS, on October 26, 2011, the Board, in consideration of the above mentioned 

findings, adopted amendments to the Tractor-Trailer GHG regulation that it found would 

provide affected fleets with additional flexibility to comply with the regulation’s 

requirements without significantly affecting the GHG benefits of the existing regulation;

WHEREAS, one the primary amendments adopted by the Board on October 26, 2011 

established another compliance schedule for large trailer fleets (Option 2 of the Large 

Fleet Compliance Plan, “Option 2”) that would allow large trailer fleet owners to phase in 

compliance from January 1, 2012 through January 1, 2016, provided the owners 

provide specified information supporting their request by July 1, 2011;

WHEREAS, another amendment adopted by the Board on October 26, 2011 provided 

flexibility for owners of fleets participating in both Option 1 and Option 2 to report 

conformance on an annual basis, rather than submitting a one-time plan that covers the 

entire phase-in submitted by the registration deadline of July 1, 2010; 

WHEREAS, both Option 1 and Option 2 specify compliance schedules and reporting 

requirements that participating large trailer fleet owners must meet; 

WHEREAS, OAL approved the 2011 amendments on December 12, 2011, and the 

amendments became effective on January 11, 2012;

WHEREAS, subsequent to OAL’s approval of the 2011 amendments, ARB staff 

discovered that due to an oversight, the 2011 amendments specified a registration 

deadline for Option 2 (July 1, 2011) that preceded the effective date of the 

amendments (January 11, 2012);

WHEREAS, this oversight creates an emergency situation that requires immediate 

action because it immediately and adversely affects trailer fleet owners who waited for 

OAL’s approval of the 2011 amendments before submitting their registration requests, 

as well as fleet owners that had not timely submitted registration requests, by requiring 

them to retrofit their entire trailer fleets by January 1, 2013;

WHEREAS, ARB did not become aware of this oversight in sufficient time to address 

the oversight through nonemergency regulations adopted in accordance with the 

provisions of Article 5, Chapter 3.5, Part 1, Division 3, Title 2 of the Government Code; 
Executive Order R-12-002 3

WHEREAS, a number of large trailer fleet owners have stated their desire to utilize 

Option 2, but were nonetheless unwilling to register their trailer fleet until the 

amendments were formally approved by OAL;

WHEREAS, large trailer fleet owners have also stated that the logistics associated with 

retrofitting thousands of trailers by January 1, 2013 poses a difficult problem and would 

significantly reduce the number of available trailers to service the needs of California;

WHEREAS, the July 1, 2011 registration deadline for Option 2 effectively vitiates the 

Board’s intent in adopting Option 2, which was to provide economic relief to an industry 

that is experiencing the adverse effects of the prolonged economic recession by 

allowing large trailer fleets to spread their compliance costs across 5 years, rather than 

requiring full compliance by January 1, 2013;

WHEREAS, ARB has received requests from eight large trailer fleet owners seeking to 

participate in the Option 2 compliance plan, but that had not submitted registration 

requests by the July 1, 2011 deadline;

WHEREAS, as of January 11, 2012, these eight large trailer fleet owners collectively 

operated over 73,000 trailers, which represent approximately 182% of the number of 

trailers registered in Option 2, and 11% of the total number of trailers projected to be 

impacted by the regulation in calendar year 2010;

WHEREAS, several large trailer fleet owners have stated that their preclusion from 

Option 2 would impose severe problems arising from the reduced number of available 

trailers to service the needs of California;

WHEREAS, such a situation will likely result in financial hardship for those fleets, as 

well as California businesses and members of the public that rely on those trailer fleets 

to bring goods into the state;

WHEREAS, based on the aforementioned facts, I find that an emergency situation 

exists;

WHEREAS, I have further determined that the adoption of emergency amendments to 

title 17, California Code of Regulations sections 95307(b), (f), and (g) is necessary to 

address that emergency;

WHEREAS, the emergency amendments allow owners of large trailer fleets to submit 

their Option 2 Large Fleet Compliance Plan until June 1, 2012;

WHEREAS, the emergency amendments require owners of large trailer fleets 

participating in Option 2 to ensure that the percentage of compliant trailers in their

compliance plan base is at least 20 percent by June 1, 2012;
Executive Order R-12-002 4

WHEREAS, the emergency amendments require owners of large trailer fleets 

participating in Option 2 to report to the Executive Officer the applicable compliance 

method for each trailer brought into compliance in order to meet the minimum fleet 

conformance threshold for compliance year 2011 by June 1, 2012;

WHEREAS, the emergency amendments require owners of large trailer fleets to provide 

the Executive Officer by June 1, 2012, the trailer identification number or vehicle 

identification number of each trailer in the compliance plan base that is redesignated 

into local-haul or storage trailer service in a specific compliance year;

WHEREAS, the emergency amendments would allow owners of trailer fleets that have

elected to participate in Option 1, to withdraw their participation from Option 1 and to 

instead participate in Option 2, provided the Executive Officer receives the notices to 

withdraw by May 1, 2012 and the owners submit their requests to participate in Option 2 

by June 1, 2012;

WHEREAS, the emergency amendments require owners of trailer fleets participating in 

Option 2 that have identified exempt storage trailers or exempt local-haul trailers in their 

trailer fleet lists, in accordance with section 95307(d)(2)(N), to register those exempt 

trailers in accordance with section 95306, Short-Haul Tractor, Local-Haul Tractor,

Local-Haul Trailer, and Storage Trailer Registration Requirements, by June 1, 2012;

WHEREAS, none of the emergency amendments constitute emission standards or test 

procedures for new or used motor vehicles;

WHEREAS, on February 22, 2012, the Board, in accordance with Government Code 

section 11346.1(a)(2), sent a notice of the proposed emergency action to every person

who had filed a request for notice of regulatory action with the Board;

WHEREAS, I find that this emergency regulatory action is necessary to preserve the 

public peace, health and safety, and general welfare of the people of California;

WHEREAS, the emergency amendments to title 17, California Code of Regulations 

sections 95307(b), (f), and (g), as set forth in Attachment A hereto, effectuate my 

direction and intent; and 

WHEREAS, the Statement of Emergency as set forth in Attachment B hereto.

NOW THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that emergency amendments to title 17, 

California Code of Regulations sections 95307(b), (f), and (g) are adopted as set forth in 

Attachment A.
Executive Order R-12-002 5

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that the emergency amendments be submitted to the 

Office of Administrative Law as expeditiously as possible.

Executed this day of February 2012, at Sacramento, California.

_______________________

James N. Goldstene

Executive Officer

Attachments

Attachment A: Emergency Regulatory Amendments to the Tractor-Trailer Greenhouse 

Gas Regulation

Attachment B: Statement of Emergency