The California law that would have banned the sale of single-use propane cylinders from January 1, 2028 has been preempted. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration published its determination on September 10, 2026, and if you camp with the small green canisters, the short version is that the shelf you buy them off is not changing on that date the way you may have been told.
Practically, nothing changes today. The California requirement never took effect, so this is a rule that was coming and now may not.
What each side actually said
California’s requirement lives in Cal. Pub. Res. Code sections 42395 to 42395.2, enacted by SB 1280 in 2024. Per the PHMSA notice, read September 15, 2026, it “generally provides that, on or after January 1, 2028, all propane cylinders sold or offered for sale in California must be reusable or refillable.” It carves out three things: cylinders customarily designed for construction use holding under 15 ounces, cylinders with a height-to-width ratio of 3.55 to 1 or greater, and cylinders bought through a federal disaster purchasing program.
The cylinders at issue are DOT-39s, the federal specification for a non-reusable, non-refillable cylinder. Worthington Enterprises, which makes them, applied for a preemption determination in August 2025. PHMSA took 17 comments, nine in support and eight opposed, and ruled on September 7, publishing September 10.
The ruling is two sentences long and worth quoting: PHMSA found the California requirement “is not substantively the same as the requirements in the HMR” and “is an obstacle to accomplishing and carrying out” the federal hazardous materials act. It is therefore “preempted under 49 U.S.C. 5125(b)(1)(E) and (a)(2).”
Why this is not settled
Two clocks are still running, both in the notice. A petition for reconsideration must be filed within 20 days of publication, which is September 30, 2026. Judicial review in a United States Court of Appeals may be sought within 60 days, which is November 9, 2026. An administrative preemption determination is not the last word available here, and we are not going to tell you how it ends.
So if you were stocking up on green canisters ahead of 2028, stop. There is no deadline to beat right now, and there may never have been one worth a garage full of pressurized fuel.
The thing that is true regardless
Refillable one-pound cylinders exist and have for years, and the case for them was always cost and hassle, not law. A DOT-39 is designed to be used once. It carries the marking required by 49 CFR 178.65(i)(2)(viii)(B), read on eCFR September 15, 2026: “Federal law forbids transportation if refilled-penalty up to $500,000 fine and 5 years imprisonment.”
Read that carefully, because people misquote it in both directions. It does not say refilling is a federal crime. It says transporting a refilled DOT-39 is prohibited. If you refill green canisters off a 20-pound tank at camp and then drive, that is the sentence you are on the wrong side of. A cylinder built and marked to be refilled is not.
None of this touches whether you can use the stove at all. Fire restrictions decide that, and they change weekly in the fall. Check your state’s fire restriction page before you light anything, and our California free camping page for what the land managers there currently allow. The posted order at the trailhead beats any website, this one included.