18 DC VELOCITY AUGUST 2014 www.dcvelocity.com
Legislation has been introduced in the House to use 5 percent of all import duties to finance a trust fund dedicated to
freight-only mobility projects.
The “National Freight Network
Trust Fund Act of 2014,” introduced by Rep. Janice Hahn
(D-Calif.), would channel duties
into a separate fund that would
pay for road improvements
within a federally designated
“National Freight Network,” as
well as those rail lines that connect the network to the country’s
ports of entry.
In the most recent trans-port-funding bill that became law two years ago, Congress
mandated that the Department of Transportation establish
a nationwide freight network within a year of the bill’s
enactment. That remains a work in progress, however.
Hahn’s legislation is not the first to call for the creation of
a trust fund to be used only for freight projects. However,
In a statement, Rep. Hahn said
her bill ensures that improvements to the goods-movement
infrastructure would be paid for
by those who benefit the most
from it. “The taxes and fees our
nation collects should be spent
on the purpose they were collected for, much as the Harbor
Hahn represents California’s 44th Congressional District,
which includes the Port of Los Angeles. It does not include
the adjacent Port of Long Beach.
House bill would use import duties to fund freight-only
road, rail projects
