Hawaiian legislators consider action over proposed Calif. container tax

Hawaiian legislators consider action over proposed Calif. container tax Mirroring a recent flap between the states of Washington and Alaska over proposed interstate container fees, Hawaiian state legislators are considering a resolution that threatens legal action if California enacts a proposed container tax bill moving through the California legislature.
   California Senate Bill 974, introduced in February by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, seeks to impose a $30 fee on each TEU moving through the three largest California container ports. Of the roughly 1.6 million TEUs shipped through Hawaii last year, about 90 percent passed through the ports of Oakland, Long Beach and Los Angeles — the nation's fourth-, second- and first-ranked container ports, respectively.
   A bicameral resolution introduced by Hawaiian lawmakers last Wednesday states: 'If the tax in Senate Bill 974 is enacted and the facts and law support an action by the State of Hawaii to challenge the tax, the legislature urges the attorney general to immediately file a complaint and request an injunction in the federal district court and in any other forum that could provide relief.'
   The resolution states that since most cargo containers are actually forty-foot boxes, or the equivalent of two TEUs, the California tax would amount to $60 a container in most cases. The tax applies whether a container is empty or full, the resolution said. Since most containers to Hawaii return to the West Coast empty, the proposed fee could represent a $120 fee on every containerload of goods shipped to Hawaii. Based on Hawaiian TEU volumes, that could add close to $50 million a year to the cost of goods being shipped to Hawaii.
   The Hawaiian resolution, which has yet to be voted on, also formally opposes the California tax, and asks California lawmakers to consider the impact the tax will have on the economy of other states, especially Hawaii.
   “This bill, if passed, will have a major negative impact on Hawaii’s economy, the maritime industry and raise the cost of living for Hawaii’s people,” said Jim Tollefson, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, in a Monday e-mail to chamber members.
   California lawmakers proposing the tax say it could raise $525 million for freight mobility, railroad enhancements, and air quality projects within their state. The bill is awaiting committee approval in the state senate.
   Earlier this year, a heated battle sparked between the states of Washington and Alaska over a similar issue, when Washington state lawmakers proposed a fee on containers moving through their state. Alaskans, who receive a great deal of their containerized goods via the state of Washington, expressed such outrage over the proposed bill and its impact on the Alaskan economy that the Washington legislature revised the bill. The bill eventually became little more than a call for a study on the possible economic impacts such a container fee might create.