After hearing lengthy testimonies containing "a lot of troubling contradictions" last week, members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said they would conduct a more thorough investigation into a proposed amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act.

The hearing before the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit was titled, "Assessing the Implementation and Impacts of the Clean Truck Programs at the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach," but was designed to delve into the controversy surrounding the Los Angeles provision that mandates that motor carriers use employee-drivers rather than independent contractors.

That provision in the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Plan has been challenged by the American Trucking Associations, which has succeeded in obtaining a preliminary injunction against its implementation. The ATA claims that the employee mandate violates the federal aviation act, known as F4A, which preempts states and municipalities from enacting laws that affect the rates, routes or service of motor carriers. The request for a permanent injunction recently went to trial, with a final decision expected later this month.

Port of Los Angeles officials have petitioned Congress to amend F4A to give them the legal grounds they need to enforce the employee mandate.

"The ambiguity of federal transportation law . . . jeopardizes our continued success toward clean air," LA Deputy Executive Director John Holmes told the congressional committee. "Without clarification of the F4A by Congress, key elements of the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program . . . will not function as intended."

Some subcommittee members initially disagreed with Holmes.

Citing the success of the clean truck program in taking dirty truck off the streets, Rep. John Duncan Jr. - the ranking member on the subcommittee - said, "the attempt to regulate trucking companies is a solution in search of a problem. If it is not broken, don't fix it."

"I don't understand how a labor structure is essential to the clean truck program," echoed Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Port of Long Beach Deputy Executive Director Chris Lytle agreed. He said that the Port of Long Beach allows both employee-drivers and independent owner-operators to serve the port, and both groups are complying with the clean truck plan.

As of May 1, more than 90 percent of the cargo passing through Long Beach is being moved by clean trucks, Lytle said. To date, the clean trucks program has reduced 80 percent of truck emissions nearly two years ahead of schedule.

Yet Holmes said, that "it is the future that the Port of Los Angeles is worried about."

He said that the Port of Los Angeles has spent $56 million on clean truck incentive payments to licensed motor carriers. Combined with $98 million in state grants, the funds have covered the purchase of nearly 4,000 new trucks.

Yet he said the subsidy programs cannot be maintained "in this economy," and independent drivers do not have the funds to purchase trucks without public assistance.

"In the long term, we need to have a structure that will perpetuate the goals of the program, and we believe that can only be carried out by employee-drivers," he said.

Independent trucker Jose Covarrubias also called for an employee mandate. After the clean truck program went into effect, Covarrubias said he was required to lease a clean truck through the trucking company he works for. In addition to the lease payments, Covarrubias said he pays for registration and insurance, other fees and taxes and $20 per week to park the company's truck in the company's yard.

Covarrubias said that the independent truckers are "nothing more than employees with expenses," who have no control over assignments, hours or rates. He said he also cannot take his leased truck to work for another company.

"Isn't that serfdom?" questioned Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York.

Fredrick Potter, vice president of the Teamsters Union, described the situation as "sharecroppers on wheels."

Representatives from the American Trucking Associations, the Coalition for Responsible Transportation and the Clean Truck Coalition defended the clean truck plan and opposed amendments to F4A.

"Ultimately the port's employee-driver requirement will force the repossession of more than 6,000 clean trucks currently in service'" said Fredrick Johring from the Clean Truck Coalition. "Those trucks will revert for the most part to smaller licensed motor carriers while the independent owner-operators will have little recourse but to seek employment with large motor carriers, penalizing those who have made sizable financial investments."

Following the heated discussion, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, who chairs the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, said, "We have an incredibly inefficient system here. You can disagree with the way the Port of Los Angeles wants to make it more rational, but the point is the system has to get better. "

Citing "a lot of troubling contradictions" in the testimonies, DeFazio recommended that congressional staffers further investigate the issue.

"I really believe this is not the last time this committee is going to be dealing with this issue," he said.

Video and Text of Testimony at Hearing

-- The Cunningham Report