The Supreme Court has struck down two more provisions of the controversial clean truck program at the Port of Los Angeles.
In a 9-0 ruling issued Thursday, the court said the port couldn't require trucks to carry placards listing a phone number to report environmental and safety violations, and couldn't require trucking companies to develop off-street parking plans for vehicles not in use.
The court said both provisions violated a federal law that gives Congress the exclusive right to regulate trucking companies involved in interstate commerce.
Several months ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a provision that required trucking companies to use their own employees - not owner-operators - at the port.
The court decisions are part of a lengthy legal battle between the port and the American Trucking Assns., which sued to stop key provisions of the program from being implemented.
"Our position has always been that the port's attempt to regulate drayage operators - in ways that had nothing to do with its efforts to improve air quality at the port - was inconsistent with Congress' command that the trucking industry be shaped by market forces, rather than an incompatible patchwork of state and local regulations," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "The decision is sure to send a signal to any other cities who may have been considering similar programs which would impermissibly regulate the port trucking industry."
Click here to read a Los Angeles Times story about the decision.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-court-la-port-20130614,0,1647546.story