S-5389.1

SENATE BILL 6535

BySenators Conway, Hasegawa, and Nguyen

AN ACT Relating to prohibiting funds available to port districts from being allocated for the purchase of fully automated marine container cargo handling equipment; and adding a new section to chapter 53.08 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 53.08 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Port moneys shall not be allocated for the purchase of fully automated marine container cargo handling equipment. Nothing in this subsection prohibits the:

(a) Use of funds available under this section for a project that includes the purchase of human-operated zero-emission equipment, human-operated near zero-emission equipment, and infrastructure supporting the human-operated equipment; and

(b) Purchase of devices that support the human-operated equipment in (a) of this subsection, including equipment to evaluate the utilization and environmental benefits of that human-operated equipment.

(2) For the purposes of this section, "fully automated marine container cargo handling equipment" means equipment that is remotely operated or remotely monitored, with or without the exercise of human intervention or control.

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