Small off-road engine cutoff

Definition

California's zero-emission standard stops new gas lawn equipment being sold, and not from being run.

Why It Matters

California set the exhaust and evaporative standard for new small off-road engines at zero, which is a sale ban written as a number. The regulation names the 2024 model year, but the standards waited on federal authorization and California has since said full implementation lands with the 2026 model year. That authorization is itself under challenge: two joint resolutions of congressional disapproval were introduced in August 2026 and neither has moved past introduction, so the standard binds while the challenge sits. Manufacturers may still certify a gasoline engine by using emission reduction credits, so the door is narrow and not shut. Existing equipment may still be run and resold used, so the rule does not bite on the day it lands, it bites at replacement. Price the fleet on what replacing it costs and not on what it would fetch. Read the exception too: portable generators, and pressure washers of 225 cubic centimeters or more, face tighter standards that stop short of zero until the 2028 model year, so the blower on the trailer is covered and the generator beside it is not.