The Brief

For more than two decades, California’s Clean Air Vehicle Decal Program has allowed certain hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered cars to use the carpool lane — even when they didn’t meet the passenger minimum that other cars are subject to.

On Wednesday, CAV comes to an end, and drivers who would have otherwise qualified for the program will no longer be able to use the HOV lane if driving without passengers, regardless of whether they have a valid clean-air sticker on their vehicle.

However, the California Highway Patrol has confirmed to KQED that drivers will have a 60-day grace period beginning Oct. 1, “during which drivers with a valid clean-air decal will not be cited for driving alone in the carpool lane.” After Nov. 30 — once 60 days have passed — driving solo in the carpool lane could result in a citation from the CHP.

Why is the CAV Decal Program ending?

California officials originally launched CAV in 1999 to encourage drivers to buy low-emission vehicles. But Congress did not approve an extension of CAV to enable the program to keep running.

“The state needs approval to operate [the program] on federal roadways throughout the state,” said Lindsay Buckley, director of communications of the California Air Resources Board.

“We’re really disappointed in the federal government’s inaction,” added Buckley. “It’s a really smart, cost-effective thing that has played an important role here in driving adoption of clean air vehicles and making Californians aware that these vehicles even exist.”

According to state data, this change will affect around a half million vehicles that currently have the CAV sticker. If you’re one of them, keep reading for what you need to know.

I have a CAV decal. What will happen on Oct. 1?

Sept. 30 is the last day the CAV program will exist in its current form. State officials previously told KQED that after that date, folks driving solo in the HOV lane could receive a citation from CHP. And misusing the carpool lane could cost you a fine of at least $490.

But the CHP recently updated KQED that drivers will have a 60-day grace period starting Oct. 1 where the law enforcement agency will be educating residents about this change. During this 60-day window, drivers with a valid clean-air decal will not be cited for driving alone in the carpool lane.

Does this impact all CAV decal colors?

In the past, the California Department of Motor Vehicles would send out decals with different colors depending on the year. Different colors have different expiration dates: Yellow and green decals, for example, will expire on Sept. 30.

As of Aug. 30, even if you’ve just purchased the newest EV on the market, you can no longer order a new CAV decal.

What can I do if I want to keep using the carpool lane?

Carpool with more people

Different highways have different regulations for how many people need to be inside a vehicle in order to use the carpool lane legally. On most routes, you need at least two people in the vehicle — including the driver — to enter the HOV lane during peak commute hours.

Consider public transit

As frustrating as it might feel if you’re one of those people who purchased an EV primarily for the carpool access, you may have to explore new commute options outside of your car.

“Folks might want to consider public transit as an alternative due to the additional travel time that they may face out of the carpool lane,” Buckley said.

If you haven’t ridden BART or AC Transit across the Bay in a while, keep in mind that both agencies updated their schedules and routes in August.

Look into casual carpool 

There are various organizations that provide carpool options. If you work in the Los Angeles or Southern California area, L.A. County Rideshare recommends employer-provided carpool programs or ride matching services. Both L.A. and Orange counties recommend RideMatch to connect with potential carpool mates in your area.

How effective was the CAV Decal Program?

Since CAV was first created, more than a million Californians have received a decal for their car. Multiple academic studies — most of them from the 2010s — show that the initiative succeeded in convincing drivers to switch over to low-emission vehicles. A 2014 UC Davis study found that 54% of Prius drivers in the nine-county Bay Area said that they chose to purchase a hybrid vehicle primarily for access to the HOV lane. In Los Angeles, that number was 64%.

Low-emission vehicles are now everywhere in the state’s highways: per federal data, roughly one in three electric vehicles in the country are registered in the Golden State. Researchers at the University of Southern California in 2023 found that ZIP codes with a higher percentage of EVs also saw lower concentration in the air of nitrogen dioxide — a pollutant that causes certain respiratory diseases.

It’s still unclear whether any long-term impacts on the state’s air quality can be attributed to the CAV program or other factors. The 2023 USC study also found that ZIP codes with more EVs were also much wealthier than those with fewer low-emission cars.

Note: LAist has added information for Southern California to this story.

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.