Found this while surfing the internet.

Lowenthal Still Plans To Push California Container Fee Bill
01/20/2008
Now that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have passed two container fees - one for clean trucks and one for infrastructure - state Sen. Alan Lowenthal is more committed than ever to his proposed container fee to pay for congestion relief and air pollution-reduction projects.

While the recent tariffs approved by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach address clean trucks and infrastructure within the ports, they don't deal with roadways and tracks in outlying areas, said John Casey, Lowenthal's chief of staff. Without companion improvements down the line, the situation is a recipe for disaster, he said. "You're creating 21st century ports and funneling cargo into a 19th century transportation system."

The two ports passed a $35 per 20-foot clean-truck container fee in December and a $15 per TEU infrastructure fee last week.

Lowenthal's Senate Bill 974, which proposes a $30 per TEU fee, was put on hold last fall after the governor and the senator agreed to work together to iron out differences over the bill. The legislation is Lowenthal's third attempt at getting a container fee to pay for infrastructure improvements, air pollution reduction, and security infrastructure to improve the flow of cargo and reduce the emissions from moving the cargo. In the latest version, the fee would apply to cargo moving through the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland by truck or rail.

--The Cunningham Report

http://www.cunninghamreport.com/news_item.php?id=165