Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order yesterday that directs state agencies to develop longer-term proposals that support port operations and goods movement for consideration in the January 10 Governor’s Budget.
The executive order builds on earlier efforts this year by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to ease supply chain issues by engaging the diverse network of stakeholders along the supply chain to discuss key challenges and identify short-term and long-term solutions.
These directives come amid global disruptions to the goods movement supply chain. Record demand for imported goods combined with capacity issues across the entire supply chain have slowed distribution at ports on the California coast.
Yesterday’s executive order also directs state agencies to continue coordinating with the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force to address state, national and global supply chain challenges.
Lastly, under the order, state agencies are directed to identify state-owned properties and other locations that could be available to address short-term storage needs once goods are unloaded from ships; to identify priority freight routes to be considered for a temporary exemption to current gross vehicle limits to allow for trucks to carry additional goods; and to create workforce training and education programs. AB 639’s (Cervantes, 2020) implementation is also expedited through this executive order.
Earlier this month, the commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission, Carl Bentzel, joined the CalChamber to discuss the state of U.S. ports and short- and long-term challenges in the shipping industry. To read the top story summarizing Commissioner Bentzel’s remarks, visit https://advocacy.calchamber.com/2021/10/12/commissioner-carl-bentzel-discusses-state-of-us-ports-at-international-forum/.
