Several more pieces of bond-related legislation fell victim to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s veto pen, as he worked to dispose of bills before Tuesday’s deadline to act on the products of this year’s Legislature.
Among the bills vetoed was one that would have imposed container fees on cargo moving through the state’s large ports in Oakland, Long Beach, and Los Angeles.
The fees were estimated to support $5 billion in revenue bonds, proceeds of which would have been used to fund projects that improve the flow of container cargo and mitigate air pollution caused by cargo movement.
In his veto message, Schwarzenegger said that while he was interested in the concept, tough economic times weighed against new fees, and that the sponsor, Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, did not go far enough to meet the administration’s concerns about the bill’s language.
“In addition to lacking the coordination needed for long-term strategic growth, this bill misses the opportunity to leverage billions of dollars in available funding through public-private partnerships, which could otherwise increase investments in infrastructure geometrically,” he said in the two-page veto message.
Schwarzenegger also vetoed a bill, backed by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, to set up a new conduit bond issuer for transportation projects. His veto message for that bill was the same as for more than 100 other bills, simply saying that because of the delay in this year’s state budget he did not have time to analyze less-important bills.
Schwarzenegger set a record by vetoing 415 bills this year. He signed 772.
