Proposals from California Democratic state Senator Alan Lowenthal to impose a container tax in LA-Long Beach throughput has won the support of environmental groups and city hall.

Bill SB 974 is expected to be heard before the Assembly Appropriations Committee from where it could then head to the floor, having already cleared the state senate, reported LBReport.com, a Long Beach news portal.

This comes after Long Beach City Council voted 8-0 in March to endorse the bill without any conditions, effectively letting Senator Lowenthal list Long Beach City Hall's support, and leaving him free to amend the bill at will.

Opponents, among them, the California Taxpayers Association, argue that the bill violates Proposition 13 and could trigger federal litigation. This sparked a call from the CA Chamber of Commerce to adopt an industry-backed solution.

Said Chamber of Commerce advocate Jason Schmelzer: "If there is an injunction and if the bill doesn't go into effect, what you would see is a lot of industry pulling back, investment at ports because they would be facing a half-billion dollar a year liability, which increases as the number of containers increases."