WASHINGTON – U.S. Congresswoman Laura Richardson, (D-CA), has tabled a bill that would increase the tax on diesel fuel by 12 cents a gallon.

And part of that revenue, by the sound of it, could conceivably be used to fund initiatives that support getting freight off the road.

The legislation, titled The Freight is the Future Of Commerce in the United States Act (or Freight FOCUS Act), would create a new Office of Freight Policy, which would establish a Goods Movement Trust Fund dedicated to funding national transportation infrastructure projects.

"Transportation hubs across the nation are hampered by aging infrastructure and unsupported transportation corridors," Richardson said in a statement. "My district … is home to multiple freeways and railways, including the vital Alameda Corridor, that see 40 percent of the nation’s freight cross over them each year. These major freight corridors are responsible for transporting goods to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest port complex in the nation. The ability for goods to flow smoothly and efficiently impacts both the local and national economies."

The bill would also spur "public and private sector involvement to prioritize major goods movement corridors, funding projects to alleviate choke points," and – always an eyebrow raiser when stated by politicians– "providing funding to mitigate the effects of goods movement on the environment and public health."

The American Trucking Associations, though, strongly supports the bill.

Rather than draw resources from the depleted Highway Trust Fund, much of the funding would come from additional user fees paid by those modes which benefit from projects funded, ATA points out. Furthermore, the bill makes sure that revenue is distributed according to each mode’s financial contribution to the program.

"This legislation will go a long way toward addressing critical bottlenecks on our nation’s most important highway corridors,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “These chokepoints cost the trucking industry tens of billions of dollars each year, and force trucks to waste a tremendous amount of fuel. With Congresswoman Richardson’s help, we can begin to fix these problem areas, which will reduce shipping costs and lower emissions from all vehicles."

The owner-op group OOIDA doesn’t like the plan, noting that there’s little guarantee that the tax revenue would stay with highways. Often, adds OOIDA, other modes are addressed in such initiatives at the expense of freight.

OOIDA says it would rather see Congress concentrate on a long-term transportation reauthorization bill that includes freight but "does not specifically tax truckers to get there."