Priorities
The Goods Movement Alliance is fighting for comprehensive solutions at all levels of government to address the current crisis, invest in future growth, and build a more resilient system. California has long promised that its climate change goals can exist alongside economic prosperity. It is time to live up to that promise, remove unnecessary barriers to goods movement, and address our challenges head-on.
A Crisis of Global Proportion
​The supply chain is a 'system of systems,' and when one of those systems struggles, the entire chain suffers. While the COVID-19 continues to put unanticipated pressure on the global supply chain–from labor shortages to continued changes in consumer behavior–additional federal, state and local policies are exacerbating the crisis.
​
Inflation, which is a de facto regressive tax, is rapidly increasing across the country and within the state. Families with disposable income may have the ability to stockpile essentials like diapers, non-perishable foods and other goods now, but families who carefully budget their monthly paychecks cannot afford to spend more now in anticipation of forthcoming supply shortages. This is felt even more acutely in California, where the cost-of-living has already driven more working families into poverty.
​
The federal, state and local governments all have a role in creating a supply chain that works. Not just to ensure products are on our shelves, but also to ensure that California-grown products are shipped and sold throughout the world. It's time to support policies that create a resilient supply chain in California and globally.
A Vital California Industry
The Transportation & Warehousing industry alone provided 766,400 jobs in the latest results for May 2022 and is the only industry—by required education level, wage level, or otherwise—to show substantial growth during the pandemic period. In the May data, wage and salary jobs in Transportation & Warehousing were up 15.2% above the pre-pandemic level in February 2020, compared to a remaining overall deficit of 0.6% for all Nonfarm Jobs.
Yet, in spite of the continuing performance of this industry to provide meaningful progress on reducing income inequality and sustaining what remains of the state’s blue-collar middle-class base, the state continues to delay additional growth as well as improvements critical to easing the ongoing supply chain disruptions, through lawsuits such as those filed in 2020, 2021, and most recently in 2022.
Even faced with these regulatory barriers, the industry continues to produce real-world income progress, especially when compared to the less apparent results coming from an array of other state policies such as its “High Road” jobs programs.
At the Federal Level
We are working to ensure California receives our fair share of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to strengthen our supply chains and make urgently needed investments to prevent continued disruptions in California’s ports, railways, roads, and other critical infrastructure.
​
The Goods Movement Alliance
Delivering Solutions to the Goods Movement Crisis
At the State Level
Our coalition is monitoring legislation that will balance cost-effective regulatory measures for the supply chain, improve access to a skilled workforce, and increase capacity for moving goods through the state in an environmentally responsible fashion.
At the Local Level
Locally, we are educating elected officials and the public about the important economic and community benefits of the logistics and warehousing industry. We are also working to reduce the barriers and permitting time to expedite warehouse development and find solutions that will cut congestion at the ports, on freeways, and in neighborhoods.