SB 974: Cleaner ports (2007)

Proposition 1C, passed by the voters in November 2006, included $1 billion to improve air quality at the state’s largest ports and $2 billion to improve their infrastructure. Everyone involved in the ports and their environmental impacts agrees these amounts are but a small down payment on the overall cost of needed improvements. Ongoing funding to meet these needs would be provided by SB 974 (Lowenthal), which imposes a $30 fee on each shipping container passing through the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland ports, with the revenues split evenly for air quality and infrastructure projects.