Los Angeles, California: Gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers will no longer be available as of January 1. Retailers in California will no longer sell these environmentally harmful gardening tools.
By the beginning of 2024, the state will be required by the new law, AB 1346, to establish laws for these gas-powered equipment and to outlaw their sale.
Targeting small off-road engines (which the bill wryly refers to as SOREs) found in federally regulated construction and farming equipment, as well as other devices like generators, as well as commercial and household lawn and garden equipment, the new law.
“Small gas engines are not only bad for our environment and contributing to our climate crisis, they can cause asthma and other health issues for workers who use them,” said one of the legislation’s co-sponsors, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, in a statement. “It’s time we phased out these super polluters, and help small landscaping businesses transition to cleaner alternatives.”