Rep. Lowenthal files freight infrastructure funding bill

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calf., who co-chairs the PORTS Caucus, has introduced legislation that would create a dedicated revenue source to improve the country’s freight infrastructure.    Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calf., has introduced a bill that would create a dedicated revenue source to improve the country’s freight infrastructure.
   In 2015, Congress passed the bipartisan Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which for the first time outlined a national freight policy. This bill incorporated ideas from Lowenthal’s earlier proposals on freight infrastructure financing to set up both formula and competitive programs to invest in these systems.
    Lowenthal’s new bill, The National Multimodal and Sustainable Freight Infrastructure Act (H.R. 3001), builds on the FAST Act, but ensures a funding stream dedicated to freight transportation projects.
   “Freight needs to step up and declare its independence,” he told a PORTS Caucus industry briefing on Capitol Hill May 17. Lowenthal co-chairs the PORTS Caucus with Ted Poe, R-Texas. “It needs to get away from ties to highway funding.”
   The congressman is no stranger to the complexities and challenges facing freight transportation infrastructure. He has represented Southern California and its vast port community for many years as a Democratic state lawmaker and since 2012 on Capitol Hill.
   Lowenthal said his bill would raise about $8 billion annually for freight-related infrastructure projects throughout the nation. To do this, the legislation calls for the establishment of a Freight Transportation Infrastructure Trust Fund which would be funded through a national 1 percent waybill fee on the transportation cost of goods.
   For example, if it cost $100 to move a shipment by truck from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, then the Freight Trust Fund would receive a $1. This is the same payment model that was used in the existing air freight tax, his staff recently told American Shipper.
   To allocate the funds, the bill creates both a formula grant in which each state would receive funds each year based on the amount of existing infrastructure in the state, and a competitive grant program which would be open to all local, regional and state governments.
   “Goods movement is the backbone of our economy. In order to maintain the standing of the United States as a global economic leader, we must invest in expanding the capacity, reliability, and efficiency of our nation’s goods movement system and freight infrastructure,” Lowenthal said in a statement.
   The bill’s co-sponsors include Reps. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif.; Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.; Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.; Judy Chu, D-Calif.; Robin Kelly, D-Il.; Mark Meadows, R-N.C.; Gwen Moore, D-Wis.; Grace Napolitano, D-Calif.; Mark Pocan, D-Wis.; Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.; and Mark Takano, D-Calif.