Schwarzenegger Vetoes Fee On Cargo Containers

Here is a quick update to a couple of articles (here and here) we posted earlier regarding the proposed container tax for containers terminating at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

Via Latimes.com:

Siding with business and the shipping industry, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Friday that would have provided $500 million a year to improve security, expand rail networks and reduce air pollution at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Schwarzenegger said he vetoed the container fee because it could have hurt U.S. exports by raising shipping costs and did not provide for public-private partnerships that could boost funding for port and transportation projects.

“It is very important,” the governor said, “that any measure to increase fees that impact exporters not have the unintended consequence of negatively impacting the sale and delivery of goods grown and manufactured in California.”

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