[301210.EN.SEA] US Clean Ports Act and 100pc Cargo Screening Bills Fade Away

TWO troublesome US congressional bills have died on the order paper as the 111th Congress adjourned, and with control passing to Republicans from Democrats, there is little chance of them being revived.

One of the bills, the Clean Ports Act of 2010, sponsored by New York Democratic Senator Jerrold Nadler and supported by the Teamsters union allowed and local government to pre-empt federal laws on motor carriers.

The Nadler bill would allow local governments to set container fees for cleaner trucks and in turn prevent independent drivers using the ports in favour of unionised trucking companies. It would have overridden a federal lawsuit by the American Trucking Associations (ATA), which seeks to have such measures deemed unconstitutional.

The ATA have always held that it is less about clean ports and clean trucks and more about organising and unionising independent truckers.

Although the bills may be resurrected in another form, National Retail Federation vice president Jonathan Gold, who opposed the Nadler, said there is unlikely that it will be revived.

"It's still an issue that we're following and will probably continue until the court case is finally settled," Mr Gold said. "I think the issue stays alive, but the focus might change now to how the drivers are classified, which is a much bigger issue for independent contractors."

The second bill in the Air Cargo Security Act for 100 per cent screening of all-cargo and package express carriers came in the wake of the foiled Yemeni bomb plot, which supported by Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Edward Markey, the author of 2009 legislation on screening of all cargo on passenger flights, was referred to the House Homeland Security Committee where it went no further. 

Source : HKSG, 30.12.10.