Calif. statewide container fee bill faces third strike

Calif. statewide container fee bill faces third strike California's delayed budget approval process and an impasse between the office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and State Sen. Alan Lowenthal threatens the future of a bill seeking to impose a $30-per-TEU statewide container fee on the state's three busiest ports.
   Lowenthal, a Long Beach Democrat and author of the bill, has worked on passing the container fee plan for more than three years. This is the third time a version of the bill has moved through the state legislature and the second time a version has headed to the governor's office. Schwarzenegger vetoed Lowenthal's first version of the bill nearly four year ago.
   The latest bill, if signed into law, would collect up to $500 million a year to be split evenly between air quality programs to reduce pollution from goods movement sources and on efficiency-improving infrastructure projects related to the movement of goods.
   The $30-per-TEU fee would be collected on containers moving through the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland — the state's three busiest container ports.
   The bill passed the state Legislature last month, but has joined hundreds of other bills in legislative limbo following the governor's declaration that he would not sign any bill until the Legislature sends him a state budget.
   Even if the governor doesn't veto it, Lowenthal's bill still faces an even tougher hurdle. Despite the striking of an apparent deal last year between Schwarzenegger and Lowenthal guaranteeing a gubernatorial signature if the bill passed the legislature, Schwarzenegger is insisting on last-minute amendments to the bill that could turn control at least some of the funds collected by the proposed container fee over to the state.
   Lowenthal remains adamant that proceeds from the container fee must be controlled by the local areas where the fee is collected, and be directed toward more than 140 infrastructure projects detailed in the bill.
   While Lowenthal's office and the governor's staff have met several times to work out the impasse over the amendments, no middle ground has yet to be found.
   Last week, Lowenthal's office asked supporters of the container fee to send letters to Schwarzenegger asking that the governor sign the bill. A quirk in the rules for preparing an approved bill heading to the governor for a signature removes all previously gathered letters of support.
   In the appeal for letters of support, Lowenthal said that while the two sides came close on several of the sticking points regarding the amendments, the negotiations simply ran out of time.
   Lowenthal also indicated that he was still willing to work with the governor, but encouraged Schwarzenegger to sign the bill first and ask for 'cleanup legislation' on the bill. This could allow the collection of the container fee to begin but still allow future changes to the implementation. ' Keith Higginbotham