At the beginning of July, all yellow-stickered partial-hybrid vehicles are officially banned from HOV areas of the highway in California unless they meet mandated passenger criteria. Happily, the natural-gas-powered Honda Civic gets a white sticker of approval.

That's right. Vehicles clad in white stickers continue to fly under the radar. This includes not only the natural-gas-powered Honda Civic, but all other natural -gas-powered vehicles and pure EVs with the super-ultralow-emission vehicle designations. The time…