Truckers, L.A. port square off in court

Truckers, L.A. port square off in court    A federal judge began hearing arguments Tuesday in a battle over the legality of certain portions of the Port of Los Angeles' clean truck program.
   Last year the American Trucking Associations successfully obtained a preliminary injunction against parts of the program, including a concession plan that seeks to replace the owner-operators draying cargo to and from the port with employee drivers.
   ATA said the concession mechanism is illegal, preempted the Constitution's 'supremacy clause,' which makes federal law the supreme law of the land. In addition, the association said the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 forbids any political subdivision of a state from enacting or enforcing any regulation 'related to a price, route or service of any motor carrier ' with respect to the transportation of property' and unduly burdens interstate commerce in violation of the Constitution's commerce clause.
   The port said its clean truck program 'although not fully in effect in light of the preliminary injunction ' has contributed to major air quality gains, thus benefiting all those who use or live near the port. Moreover, the port's concession contract program will be shown to notably enhance its ability to address safety and security threats.'
   The ATA, in its trial brief prepared for Tuesday's hearing, said, 'in establishing the concession mechanism, the Port of Los Angeles did not act in a manner that was genuinely responsive to motor vehicle safety, especially with regard to the concession agreement provisions addressing independent owner-operators, off-street parking, financial capacity and maintenance.'
   'Prohibiting motor carriers from using independent owner-operators (IOO), 'would force motor carriers fundamentally to restructure their business,' the ATA said. 'Such a profound change by definition affects the business model of motor carriers, including the cost of providing drayage services.
   'This would affect the price of drayage services, and the manner in which services are provided and routes are used.'
   For example, the ATA said, a motor carrier dropping off an export container at the nearby Port of Long Beach using an independent owner-operator could not then dispatch the same truck to pick up an import container at the Port of Los Angeles, and instead a different truck, driven by an employee, would be needed.
   ATA said maintenance requirements and requirement for off-street parking control 'essential details' of how motor carriers will manage equipment used to provide drayage services, and thus clearly relate to services, as well as their costs and prices, which it said is not permitted under the FAAA Act.
   A proposed requirement to submit financial data, the ATA said, 'is intended to interfere directly with motor carrier's routes and services by enabling POLA's executive director to grant or deny the carrier's ability to provide port drayage services to and from POLA as a matter of economic regulation.'
   But the port argued long-term success of its clean truck program 'hinges on the effectiveness of the entire concession program.'
   'At trial, the port expects to show that the concession program should be upheld in its entirety against ATA's Supremacy Clause and dormant Commerce Clause challenges, because the program was developed by the port to address its proprietary concerns as a commercial enterprise,' the port said in its pretrial brief.
   It said a provision-by-provision analysis of the concession contract would show its various provisions do not affect the prices, routes or services of motor carriers in a significant manner and are genuinely responsive to safety and security concerns relating to drayage trucks operating at the port, thus bringing the concession provisions within the scope of the FAAA Act's 'safety provision.' It added the concession program does not constitute an 'undue burden' on interstate commerce. ' Chris Dupin