California Governor signs Executive Order to tackle port congestion 

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an Executive Order directing state agencies to identify additional ways to alleviate congestion at California ports.

“California’s ports are critical to our local, state and national economies and the state is taking action to support goods movement in the face of global disruptions.

“My administration will continue to work with federal, state, labor and industry partners on innovative solutions to tackle immediate challenges while also bringing our distribution processes into the 21st century,” Newsom said.

The Executive Order, which was signed on Thursday, seeks to engage supply chain stakeholders to identify key challenges and short-term and long-term solutions to expedite cargo distribution through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

A press release from the Governor’s office reads: “Today’s Executive Order 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. The Executive Order also directs the Department of Finance to work with state agencies to develop longer-term solutions that support port operations and goods movement for consideration in the January 10 Governor’s Budget, which may include port and transportation infrastructure improvements, electrification of the goods movement system from port to delivery, and workforce development.

“Additionally, today’s Executive Order directs state agencies 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.