SACRAMENTO — The Assembly Rules Committee voted Feb. 4 to halt the purchase of Toyota vehicles over the company’s handling of the unintended acceleration controversy and its shutdown of the NUMMI manufacturing plant in Fremont.

“The State of California has been good to Toyota as a customer and provides one of the largest marketplaces for their vehicles, but I feel Toyota has gone back on their commitment to their customers,” said Assembly Rules Committee Chair Ted Lieu (D-Torrance). “That is why we are halting the purchase of Toyota vehicles in the State Assembly and re-instituting our ‘Buy American’ policy.”

The prior policy was to only allow American-manufactured vehicles to be in the Assembly fleet. In 2003, the Rules Committee allowed the purchase of hybrid vehicles from manufacturers outside of the U.S.

U.S. car manufacturers now offer a full line-up of competitively priced and reliable hybrid automobiles, so the Rules Committee will return to the prior policy.


“This is good economics for the state and it is good for U.S. auto manufacturers,” said Lieu. “While the Assembly will not be purchasing new pool cars in the near term due to California’s fiscal crisis, when we do, we’re going to buy American.”

Lieu, who is running for attorney general, represents the Southern California city where Toyota’s U.S. headquarters is located.