The Washington Post - 18.09.2019

A18 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 , 2019

in Washington. In part, that’s be-

cause of the history that led to the

state’s unique authority.

Smog in Los Angeles had be-

come crippling at times through-

out the 1950s and into the 1960s.

As scientists focused on motor ve-

hicle exhaust as a key c ulprit, state

officials worked to develop the

nation’s first vehicle emissions

standards in 1966.

The following year, the state’s

new Republican governor, Ronald

Reagan, e stablished t he California

Air Resources Board to undertake

a statewide effort to address wide-

spread a ir p ollution.

As i t crafted landmark clean-air

legislation for the country, Con-

gress granted California special

status, saying the state could re-

quest a “waiver” t o require s tricter

tailpipe standards if it provided a

compelling reason for why they

were needed. The auto industry,

then as now, expressed concern

over the idea of having to meet

different standards in different

states, but California prevailed.

Congress has repeatedly reaf-

firmed that right. And in 1977,

lawmakers said other states could

legally adopt California’s stricter

car e missions standards.

Over time, emissions control

strategies first adopted by Califor-

nia — catalytic converters, regula-

tions on oxides of nitrogen, and

“check engine” s ystems, to name a

few — have become standard

across t he country.

In l ate 2007, t he G eorge W. B ush

administration denied California

a waiver on the grounds that cap-

ping carbon dioxide emissions did

not a ddress a specific air pollution

problem for the s tate.

“The Bush administration is

moving forward with a clear na-

tional solution, not a confusing

patchwork of s tate rules, t o reduce

America’s climate footprint from

vehicles,” s aid Stephen L. J ohnson,

the EPA’s administrator at the

time.

California, along with other

states, challenged the denial in

court. In J uly 2009, after President

Barack O bama took office, t he EPA

granted the state its waiver.

jul [email protected]

[email protected]

are limiting carbon dioxide emis-

sions from vehicles, rather than

overtly setting mileage standards.

Margo Oge, who directed the

EPA’s Office of Transportation a nd

Air Q uality from 1994 to 2012, said

in an interview that C alifornia can

make a strong c ase t hat it needs to

curb these pollutants because cli-

mate change worsens ozone,

which h elps c reate smog.

“California has demonstrated

that by getting a greenhouse gas

emissions waiver, it can also re-

duce ozone pollution, because the

data is very strong,” s he said.

But even Obama administra-

tion officials acknowledged that

efforts to curb CO2 emissions

from autos are inextricably linked

to stricter mileage standards. The

2010 rule published by EPA and

the N ational Highway Traffic Safe-

ty Administration noted that

nearly 95 percent of emissions

from cars and light trucks stem

from motor fuel combustion.

Auto industry officials s aid they

continue to hope that federal and

state officials can compromise on

a single national standard, d espite

no evidence of a deal in sight.

“A utomakers have said many

times that we support year-over-

year increases in fuel economy

standards that align with market-

place realities,” said Gloria

Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the

Alliance of Automobile Manufac-

turers, “and we support one na-

tional program as the best path to

preserve good auto jobs and keep

new vehicles affordable for more

Americans.”

In an interview with The Post

last week, W heeler said the Trump

administration plans to separate-

ly finalize scaled-back mileage

standards for t he nation’s a utos b y

the end of the year. He said he

remained optimistic that the in-

dustry would embrace the latest

version of the rollback. “I’m still

hopeful that people will see that

the changes we made from the

proposal to the final [rule], that

everyone would get on board and

be supportive of what we’re do-

ing,” Wheeler s aid.

California’s long-standing a bili-

ty to write its own emissions stan-

dards has s eldom been questioned

model year 2025.

In July, California forged an

agreement with f our companies —

Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and

BMW of North America — under

which they pledged to produce

fleets averaging nearly 50 mpg by

model year 2026. The Justice De-

partment has opened an inquiry

into whether the accord violated

antitrust l aw.

One of the central arguments i n

the White House’s p roposal i s that

the 1975 Energy Policy and Con-

servation Act gives only the feder-

al government the right to set fuel

standards, said the two senior ad-

ministration officials, who spoke

on the condition of anonymity be-

cause the announcement was not

yet public.

By seeking to strip California of

its autonomy, Trump officials are

forcing auto companies to choose

whether they will side with the

state or with the federal govern-

ment. As part of July’s deal with

the California Air Resources

Board, the four carmakers agreed

to support the s tate’s r ight to set its

own t ailpipe standards.

Environmentalists promised to

join California in its legal opposi-

tion.

“There’s nothing in the Clean

Air A ct o r EPA regulations provid-

ing for this unprecedented ac-

tion,” Martha Roberts, a senior

attorney a t the Environmental De-

fense Fund, said in an interview.

“The legislative history is explicit

about broad authority for Califor-

nia. This is very well established

legal authority that’s firmly an-

chored i n the C lean A ir Act.”

Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow at

the conservative Competitive En-

terprise Institute, predicted in an

interview that the move actually

could make it easier for automak-

ers to embrace the White House’s

proposed rollback of gas mileage

standards.

“The only reason the automak-

ers a re not on board w ith Trump i s

because they’re a fraid o f the retali-

ation from C alifornia if Trump los-

es,” L ewis said.

It is unclear who would prevail

in a legal fight over California’s

waiver. The state’s air regulators

have consistently a rgued that they

Tuesday said they will fight any
challenge to their autonomy.
“While the White House has
abdicated its responsibility to the
rest of the world on cutting emis-
sions and fighting global warm-
ing, California has stepped up,”
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said. “It’s
a move that could have devastat-
ing consequences for our kids’
health and the air we breathe, if
California were to roll over. But we
will not.”
Echoing the governor, state At-
torney General Xavier Becerra,
who has sued the Trump adminis-
tration o n a range of issues, vowed
to head back to court, saying Cali-
fornia’s clean car standards are
“achievable, science-based, and a
boon for hard-working American
families and p ublic health.”
The official announcement had
been scheduled for Wednesday,
during President Trump’s trip to
California, but after the news
broke Tuesday, the a dministration
postponed the policy rollout by at
least a day.
Trump’s move is likely to be
unpopular nationwide and in Cal-
ifornia, with Americans widely
supportive of stricter f uel efficien-
cy standards. A Washington Post-
Kaiser Family Foundation poll re-
leased Friday found 66 percent of
Americans o ppose Trump’s p lan t o
freeze fuel efficiency standards
rather than enforce the Obama
administration’s targets for 2025.
A nearly identical 67 percent
majority says they support state
governments setting stricter fuel
efficiency targets than the federal
government.
Among Californians, t he survey
found 68 percent oppose Trump’s
relaxation of mileage standards,
while 61 percent support Califor-
nia’s s tricter s tandards.
The standoff began last year,
when the EPA and Transportation
Department proposed taking
away California’s waiver as part of
a rule that would freeze mileage
standards for these vehicles at
roughly 37 miles per gallon from
2020 to 2026. The Obama-era
standards had required these
fleets to average nearly 51 mpg by

CALIFORNIA FROM A

pen.”

Earlier this year, the Associated

Press reported that a Los Angeles

police detective in a division that

polices downtown Los Angeles

was diagnosed with typhoid fever.

Several others in the same station

showed symptoms, the AP report-

ed.

“The president’s remarks are

abhorrent. He’s apparently more

concerned with the doorways and

streets than with the people who

are homeless and sleeping on

them,” said Diane Yentel, presi-

dent and chief executive of the

National Low Income Housing

Coalition.

The administration appears to

be focused on Los Angeles’s “skid

row,” a homeless encampment

that officials from multiple agen-

cies toured last week. G overnment

officials a lso toured a n abandoned

Federal Aviation Administration

facility in nearby Hawthorne as a

potential place to relocate the

thousands of homeless people in

the a rea.

Trump has characterized the

homeless problem in California

and other places as a “disgrace,”

saying this J uly: “We may do some-

thing to get that whole thing

cleaned up. It’s inappropriate.” He

more recently directed aides to

figure out “how t he h ell we can g et

these people off the streets,” one

senior administration official

said. Fox News has a ired at l east 18

segments on California homeless-

ness in 2 019, a ccording to a review

of Fox closed-captioning tran-

scripts.

Planning has involved officials

from the White House, t he D epart-

ment of Housing and Urban De-

velopment, the Justice Depart-

ment, and the Department of

Health and Human Services,

among other a gencies.

Trump made h is remarks a bout

homelessness as he began a two-

day fundraising swing across C ali-

fornia that is expected to raise

approximately $15 million for

Trump Victory, a joint effort for

the president’s reelection cam-

paign and the Republican Nation-

al Committee.

Trump addressed a luncheon at

a private home in Portola Valley,

which is in the Silicon Valley area,

that was expected to net $3 mil-

lion. Later Tuesday, Trump is

scheduled to fly to Southern Cali-

fornia, where h e will hold a dinner

at the Beverly Hills home of real

estate developer Geoff Palmer that

is expected to raise $ 5 million.

On Wednesday, Trump w ill hold

a fundraising breakfast in L os An-

geles that is expected to raise $

million and a luncheon in San

Diego that should net $4 million,

according to a Republican official

familiar with t he p lans.

ph [email protected]

[email protected]

Stein reported from Washington.

BY PHILIP RUCKER

AND JEFF STEIN

mountain view, c alif. — Presi-

dent Trump maligned the prob-

lem of homelessness in California

as he arrived in the nation’s most

populous state Tuesday, arguing

that people living on the streets

here have ruined the “prestige” of

two of the state’s most populous

cities and suggesting the p ossibili-

ty o f federal action.

“We can’t let Los Angeles, San

Francisco and n umerous o ther c it-

ies d estroy themselves by allowing

what’s happening,” Trump told r e-

porters aboard Air Force One en

route to Silicon Valley, where he

hosted a campaign fundraiser to

kick off a two-day visit to Califor-

nia.

Under Trump’s direction, the

administration has been eyeing

sweeping unilateral action on

homelessness, with top govern-

ment officials from multiple agen-

cies touring California this month

to formulate a strategy. Housing

Secretary B en Carson was a lso vis-

iting San Francisco on Tuesday,

and h ad p lans to discuss the i ssue.

It is unclear what legal authori-

ty the federal government has to

clear the streets and how that

might be a ccomplished, h owever.

California is c ontrolled by Dem-

ocrats and h as become a bastion of

resistance to Trump’s presidency.

As h e arrived here, Trump claimed

that he had personally h eard c om-

plaints from tenants in the state,

some of them foreigners. He ex-

pressed sympathy for real estate

investors here and other Califor-

nians whose property values or

quality o f life are threatened.

“In many cases, they came from

other countries a nd t hey moved to

Los Angeles or they moved to San

Francisco because of the prestige

of the city, a nd all of a sudden t hey

have tents,” Trump said. “Hun-

dreds and hundreds of tents and

people living at the entrance to

their office building. And they

want to leave.”

In L os Angeles and San Francis-

co, Trump said, people are living

on the “best highways, our best

streets, our best entrances to

buildings... where people in

those buildings pay tremendous

taxes, where they went to those

locations because o f the prestige.”

“The people of San Francisco

are fed up, and the people of Los

Angeles are fed up,” Trump said.

“We’re looking at it, and we’ll be

doing something a bout it.”

Administration officials have

considered razing tent camps for

the homeless, creating temporary

facilities a nd refurbishing govern-

ment facilities, according to two

senior government officials who

spoke on t he c ondition of a nonym-

ity because they were not author-

ized to speak publicly.

Trump claimed in his com-

ments to reporters Tuesday that

police officers here are “getting

sick” from dealing with homeless

people. “They’re actually s ick,” t he

president said. “They’re going to

the h ospital. We can’t let that h ap-

California will go to court to protect emissions rules

BY ERIC YODER

Federal agencies would have
greater freedom in disciplining
their employees, and the workers
would be guaranteed only the
minimum protections required
by law, under rules the Trump
administration proposed Tues-
day.
The rules would strip away
many of the practices agencies
have followed in disciplining em-
ployees, while urging them to
move as fast as the law allows.
For example, the rules empha-
size management’s discretion to
order penalties up to firing in
cases of alleged misconduct re-
gardless of whether an agency
had taken lesser actions against
the employee first and regardless
of how it had responded in some
similar past situations.
For cases of alleged poor per-
formance, agencies would have
more leeway in fulfilling their
obligation to help employees try
to improve before taking disci-
plinary action.
Most of the changes would put
in place the parts of a May 2018
executive order from President
Trump that are not affected by a
court injunction blocking por-

tions of that order and two others

issued at the same time.

In proposing the rules for a

30-day comment period, the Of-

fice of Personnel Management

said that “failure to address unac-

ceptable performance and mis-

conduct undermines morale, bur-

dens good performers with sub-

par colleagues, and inhibits the

ability of executive agencies to

accomplish their missions.”

After issuing proposed rules,

an agency must review the com-

ments and respond to them when

issuing final rules, which may

included changes. There is no

deadline for those steps. Further,

changes in federal personnel pol-

icies commonly don’t take effect

until OPM later issues guidance

to agencies.

Leaders of the two largest fed-

eral employee unions, though,

said in statements that the rules

would remove important protec-

tions.

“These proposed regulations

encourage management by fear

and intimidation and assume

that managers are incapable of

working with employees to help

them improve their perform-

ance,” said American Federation

of Government Employees Presi-

dent J. David Cox. “If these rules

go into effect, they will greenlight

arbitrary and discriminatory dis-

cipline against employees who

will have little recourse to chal-

lenge poor or politically corrupt

management.”

“With these rules, OPM directs

agencies to take the shortest

route possible to firing federal

workers while at the same time

opening the door to favoritism,

retaliation and discrimination,”

said National Treasury Employ-

ees Union President To ny Rear-

don. “The proposed regulations

minimize the substantive right

that employees be given time to

improve their performance, and

they sacrifice fairness for the sake

of expediency.”

However, Jason A. Briefel, ex-

ecutive director of the Senior Ex-

ecutives Association, said the

changes could help steer the gov-

ernment “toward a system that

focuses on outcomes and resolu-

tion instead of leaving things in

limbo.”

“We have always said there are

adequate protections in the law

and the regulations, but the

whole system has become about

the process rather than the out-

come for the agency and the

public,” he said in a telephone

interview. “We’re focused on all

these rules and regulations rather

than managing ourselves as pro-

fessionals.”

Civil service law requires that

before agencies take disciplinary

action on performance grounds,

employees must be given a notice

of their shortcomings and an “op-

portunity to demonstrate accept-

able performance.”

Practices vary a mong agencies;

commonly they use “performance

improvement plans,” which may

involve additional training, men-

toring and heightened monitor-

ing and guidance by supervisors.

Some have committed to giving

employees a certain amount of

time to improve and providing

informal help before beginning a

formal improvement program.

However, the proposed rules

say that agencies are not to pro-

vide any “additional performance

improvement period or similar

informal period” beyond the for-

mal period.

The rules similarly would dis-

continue any “tables of penalties”

that agencies have created for

determining penalties for various

types of misconduct, saying that

the law does not require such

tables and that they can tie man-

agement’s hands. They further

tell agencies not to follow a prac-

tice of “progressive discipline” —

a series of ever-more-severe pen-

alties.

“There is no legal principle in

the Federal Government that re-

quires agencies to impose the

least penalty to rehabilitate an

employee.... Agencies should

not require that an employee

have previously been suspended

or reduced in pay or grade before

a proposing official may propose

removal, except as may be appro-

priate under applicable facts,” t he

proposed rules say.

Also when choosing a penalty,

agencies would have to consider

an employee’s “disciplinary rec-

ord and past work record, includ-

ing all prior misconduct,” not just

similar misconduct.

While they should consider

what was done in a past similar

situation in the same work unit

and under the same supervisor,

“conduct that justifies discipline

of one employee at one time by a

particular deciding official does

not necessarily justify the same or

similar disciplinary decision for a

different employee at a different

time,” the rules proposal says.

When actually carrying out a

disciplinary action, it adds, agen-

cies should stick as closely as

possible to the minimum 30-day

delay the law provides for em-

ployees to respond to the charges

in all but the most serious cases,

and to aim to make a final deci-

sion within 15 days afterward.

The rules also would:

l Order agencies to use the pro-

bationary period for newly hired

employees, during which they

have very limited rights to contest

discipline, “to the greatest extent

possible to assess how well they

are performing the duties of their

jobs; and instances of poor per-

formance and misconduct should

be dealt with promptly.”

l Prevent agencies from con-

senting, as part of a settlement

with an employee who challenged

a disciplinary action, to remove

any information regarding the

employee’s conduct or perform-

ance from their personnel files.

l Require that agencies take

disciplinary action against super-

visors who retaliate against whis-

tleblowers, with penalties rang-

ing from a three-day suspension

to firing for the first offense and

required firing for a second.

[email protected]

Federal employees could face more discipline under proposed rules

Homelessness hurts

California’s prestige,

president says

White House weighs action

to address issue as Trump

visits state to raise funds

“The people of San

Francisco are fed up,

and the people of Los

Angeles are fed up.”

President Trump

PATRICK T. FALLON/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Vehicle traffic in California — like on the 101 Freeway — is a major factor in the emissions of greenhouse gases and in the creation of smog.