The chair of California’s environmental regulatory board will retire at the end of the month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Sept. 15.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had called for California Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph’s resignation, and multiple high-profile lawsuits were filed against the agency.

Newsom said that Randolph will retire from state service on Sept. 30. He appointed his climate adviser, Lauren Sanchez, to replace Randolph on the board.

“Liane stepped into this role at a moment of deep uncertainty and never flinched,” Newsom said in a statement. “For five years, she’s led with vision and resolve—expanding California’s work to clean the air in our hardest-hit communities while charting the course for California to become the world’s largest economy committed to net-zero carbon.”

Newsom described Liane as kind and strong.

“California is stronger because of her leadership, and I’m grateful for her decades of service to our state,” Newsom said.

Randolph said in a statement that serving the public “has been the honor of a lifetime.”

“I am incredibly proud of everything the agency has accomplished over the last five years,” Randolph said. “As I leave state service, I do so with gratitude and hope—knowing the next generation is ready to lead with courage, compassion and conviction.”

In May, lawmakers called for Randolph to resign.

“Bipartisan calls are mounting for Newsom’s Air Resources Board Chair to resign,” Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, a Republican from San Diego, posted on X on May 30.

Jones accused Randolph and the governor of using regulations to “jack up gas prices and force Californians into [electric vehicles].”

Democratic Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains of Delano also called for Randolph’s immediate resignation on May 30.

CARB does not analyze the impact its regulations will have on retail gas prices, Bains said.

During Randolph’s tenure as chair of CARB, the agency took steps to cut emissions and transition away from fossil fuels. CARB passed regulations for the state to become completely carbon neutral by 2045.

CARB also passed a contentious Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, requiring new medium and heavy-duty combustion trucks sold in California to be zero-emission by 2036. The rule mandated all drayage trucks to be zero-emission by 2035.

Truckers prepare to pick up shipping containers from the Port of Long Beach, Calif., on March 28, 2025. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and four major truck manufacturers—Daimler Truck, PACCAR, Volvo, and International Motors—sued CARB in lawsuits filed last month, challenging the legality of the rule and the state’s continued enforcement of emissions standards. The California Trucking Association sued CARB over the rule in 2023.

Also under Randolph’s leadership, CARB mandated all passenger vehicle sales to be electric and zero-emission by 2035.

President Donald Trump signed a package of resolutions in June that, in part, overturned the Environmental Protection Agency waiver granted to California in 2023, which allowed the state to enforce its standards.

A woman fills her car up with gasoline in Los Angeles on July 1, 2025. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Sanchez is expected to begin her new role as CARB chair on Oct. 1. Newsom called Sanchez his “most trusted climate advisor and chief architect of California’s bold climate agenda.”

The Oakland resident has served as Newsom’s climate adviser since 2021.