Lowenthal amends Calif. container fee bill, vote could come Tuesday

State Sen. Alan Lowenthal has added more than 150 amendments to his proposed SB974 legislation that seeks to impose a $30-per-TEU container fee on cargo moving through the three largest California ports, American Shipper has learned.

While most of the amendments are minor clarifications or technical changes to the bill's original language, more than a dozen of the amendments deal with which Southern California goods movement infrastructure projects that would be eligible for funds collected if the bill becomes law. Several of the new amendments also alter how half of the SB974 collected funds designated for air quality programs will be spent.

In addition, Lowenthal has asked for a procedural rules waiver on the bill, meaning that the bill could be brought to an Assembly vote as early as today. Sacramento Assembly watchers expect the waiver to be granted. The bill requires only a full Assembly vote and a concurrence vote by the Senate to pass the Legislature and head to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office. It is not expected to encounter any difficulty in passing either house. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

The two new amendments likely to raise the most interest are a declaration that no exemptions to the fee will be granted -- as the Port of Oakland had sought in the case the Bay Area port authority imposed its own local container tax -- and an amendment allowing Southern California project planners to substitute similar projects for those specified in the bill.

Lowenthal officially added all the amendments to the bill Monday. Earlier this week, Lowenthal presented the amendments to Schwarzenegger for review.

The SB974 bill, which would impose the per-TEU fee on containers moving through the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland, is projected to raise $400 million to $500 million annually for goods movement infrastructure and environmental projects throughout the state. Under the terms of the bill, the per-TEU container fee would be borne by beneficial cargo owners.

The third incarnation of Lowenthal's statewide container fee proposal, SB974 has appeared and disappeared several times over the past year. Last September, the legislation was shelved after Schwarzenegger threatened a veto. The move was also seen at the time as an effort to allow Los Angeles and Long Beach ports more time to impose their own local container taxes, which both have since done.

In February, the bill was again removed from inactive status and placed on the Assembly agenda, though no action was taken on it. Lowenthal抯 office has said that more than 140 projects, most rail/traffic crossing separations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, will be specified in the bill.

The infrastructure projects to be funded under SB974, according to the amendments, include: dozens of rail/traffic separation projects in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties; the Colton Crossing rail project, unspecified on-dock rail projects at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles; and a project for electric/maglev/zero emission rail.

A new amendment also provides that the Southern California group putting together the list of projects eligible for the collected fee to substitute a 搒imilar?project for one listed in the bill. The group comprises representatives from the ports and cities of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, the LA County MTA, the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the Orange County Transportation Authority, San Bernardino Associated Governments, and the cities of Anaheim, Riverside, and San Bernardino.

Funding priority under another key amendments is now specified as going to those projects that are closest to construction.

Some of the additional amendments that make clarifications or technical changes include:

   Specifies that rail/traffic crossings (grade separations) are vital goods movement projects.

   Clarifies that the SB974 fee is separate from any local fee or tax imposed by the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles or Oakland.

   Clarifies that funds from SB974 can be used to match other, including federal, funds.

   Clarifies that funds must always be supplemental to federal infrastructure funds.

   Allows loans to be a component of the funding for any SB974-funded air quality programs.

   Specifies that in Southern California, funding priority for air quality programs to be funded by SB974 must be given to truck replacement and retrofit programs. 

Source: American Shipper