BILL NUMBER: SJR 33 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal
(Coauthors: Senators Ashburn, Harman, Huff, Kehoe, and Oropeza)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal)
MAY 24, 2010
Relative to national freight policy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 33, as introduced, Lowenthal. National freight policy.
This measure would request that Congress adopt a national freight
policy as a component of the next federal transportation bill and
subsequently direct the United States Department of Transportation to
implement its provisions.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The national supply chain, national economy, and
international standing of the United States benefits from and depends
on the airport, land port of entry, and seaport infrastructure that
has been developed to facilitate interstate and international trade
by the State of California, its local governments, and its residents;
and
WHEREAS, While there are many important benefits from facilitating
international trade and California recognizes the need to continue
to invest in its trade and freight infrastructure, the appropriate
development of that infrastructure is impeded due to the lack of
federal funding and a federally endorsed national freight policy; and
WHEREAS, A lack of significant investment in interstate and
international trade infrastructure in California has significant
costs, most notably the additional impacts of traffic congestion on
our local roads, highways, and railways; the emissions from
heavy-duty equipment, trains, trucks, and ships on air quality and
public health; and the public financing burdens associated with
building and maintaining the transportation infrastructure necessary
to grow and facilitate interstate and international trade; and
WHEREAS, California's multiple airports of international
significance facilitate interstate and international trade in the
national interest, and operate within an aviation system facilitated
by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security
Administration, and numerous other federal agencies; and
WHEREAS, California's significantly improved infrastructure at the
land ports of entry at the United States-Mexico border facilitate
interstate and international trade in the national interest and, with
little federal participation in the creation of additional freight
capacity beyond the immediate border region to mitigate the impacts,
this international trade occurs under the auspices of the North
American Free Trade Agreement and is regulated by United States
Customs and Border Protection and numerous other federal agencies;
and
WHEREAS, California's 11 public seaports, whose numbers include
the first, second, and fifth busiest container ports in the country,
facilitate interstate and international trade in the national
interest, are locally financed entities that do not receive regular
federal assistance or benefit from a fair percentage of the customs
revenue (of which approximately $8 billion is generated in
California) or from the federal Harbor Maintenance Tax, and operate
within a maritime commerce system facilitated by the Federal Maritime
Commission, United States Customs and Border Protection, United
States Coast Guard, and numerous other federal agencies; and
WHEREAS, California taxpayers have recently committed $3.1 billion
of taxpayer funds to improve the international goods movement
infrastructure in California, invest in additional seaport security
measures, and reduce air pollution from international goods movement
in California; and
WHEREAS, The significant costs, both direct and indirect, of
facilitating interstate and international trade should not rest
primarily with the State of California, its local governments, or its
citizens; and
WHEREAS, The primary responsibility for facilitating interstate
and international trade and for mitigating the impacts of that trade
rests with the federal government; and
WHEREAS, The federal government does not have a comprehensive
national freight policy in place to facilitate the measured and
planned growth of interstate and international trade amongst and
between the states, our foreign neighbors, or from our international
airports and international seaports to domestic points of
destination, nor to address the significant direct and indirect
infrastructure, environmental, health, financial, and congestion
impacts resulting from interstate and international trade; and
WHEREAS, In the previous round of federal transportation
reauthorization that ultimately produced the Safe Accountable
Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users
(SAFETEA-LU), Congress directed the creation of and a report from a
revenue commission, whereby the commission analyzed and recommended
multiple changes to the federal methodologies by which transportation
projects are funded and financed by Congress, and these
recommendations included farsighted and innovative national freight
infrastructure funding strategies; and
WHEREAS, Congress has yet to authorize a new federal
transportation bill; and
WHEREAS, Interstate and international trade activity through
California's airports, land ports of entry, and seaports is crucial
to the overall health of the state, national, and international
economies; facilitates the creation of millions of jobs with higher
than average wages; and contributes billions of dollars in federal,
state, and local tax and fee revenues; and
WHEREAS, The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 created a national
effort to finance and build national transportation infrastructure
that is the National Highway System, an investment that has had an
enormous impact on the productivity of the American economy;
similarly, a national multimodal investment in national goods
movement infrastructure to move goods efficiently would provide a
comparable impact on the American economy and its 21st century
competitiveness; and
WHEREAS, The creation of a national freight policy would provide a
federal basis for investment in trade-facilitating infrastructure
development, public and private participation in financing trade
infrastructure, significant emissions reductions and air quality
benefits, and a platform for the equitable distribution of federal
funds such that California and its local transportation partners
would receive their fair share of those revenues; now, therefore, be
it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully requests that
the Congress of the United States adopt a national freight policy as
a component of the next federal transportation bill and subsequently
direct the United States Department of Transportation to implement
its provisions; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the
Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and each Senator and
Representative representing California in the Congress of the United
States.