The state is clamping down on emissions from forklift fleets.
Late last month, as part of its ongoing effort to reduce emissions from off-road vehicles, the state Air Resources Board voted to impose stricter emission limits on forklifts, those ubiquitous machines used for construction and for loading and unloading goods onto vehicles and in warehouses.
The move stands to impact at least one local maker of forklifts, Toyota Material Handling USA Inc., an Irvine-based unit of Toyota Motor Corp.
Toyota Material makes forklifts with electric and internal combustion engines.
A local company looking at forklift emissions from a different angle could be Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc.
Quantum, which develops low-emission hydrogen and other alternative fuel based engines, is working on technology that could be adapted for forklifts, the company said.
Most forklifts have engines that use gasoline or propane, with some using cleaner-burning natural gas.
The Air Resources Board’s rule has two parts.
The first requires forklift engine manufacturers to meet more stringent emission limits for new forklifts sold in California.
The second requires operators of existing forklifts to reduce emissions by retrofit or replacement of the engines with cleaner models by the year 2009.
The most common way to retrofit forklift engines is with the installation of a catalytic converter.
But in a concession to small business owners and independent construction contractors that had opposed the regulation as too costly, the board decided to exempt any entities that use fewer than three forklifts from the retrofit requirement.
That essentially removes about 70% of all forklifts used in California from being affected by the regulation.
This is the board’s second major effort to cut emissions from forklifts.
In 1998, the board voted to cut emissions by 7%, beginning with 2004 models. By comparison, board officials noted that emission standards for cars have been reduced 98% during the past 30 years.
“Although we have previously regulated forklifts, it was time to renew our efforts and clean them up further,” said board chair Robert Sawyer. “Today’s approval by the Board is equivalent to removing over 200,000 cars from the road.”
For more information: www.arb.ca.gov/-regact/lore2006/lore2006.htm.
Minimum Wage Update
With the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a collision course on raising the state’s minimum wage, the new battleground appears to be the previously defunct Industrial Welfare Commission.
Last week, both the state Assembly and state Senate approved bills to increase the minimum wage from the current $6.75 an hour to $7.75 an hour and then build in a virtually automatic annual cost escalator by indexing the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index.
The California Chamber of Commerce estimates that each annual increase in the minimum wage could cost California employers more than $2 billion.
But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is staunchly opposed to indexing the minimum wage and has indicated he will veto whichever of the two bills reaches his desk.
Instead, earlier last month, he petitioned the previously defunct Industrial Welfare Commission to raise the state’s minimum wage $1 without indexing.
Not to be outdone, proponents of indexing the minimum wage,led by the California Labor Federation,have submitted their own petition to the commission. Their petition includes indexing.
With Schwarzenegger’s veto of legislation virtually assured, it will now be up to the commission to sort through the rhetoric and the proposals to come up with its own regulation after holding a series of hearings over the next several months.
For more information: www.dir.ca.gov/-IWC/iwc.html.
Business Income Tax Crackdown
The state Franchise Tax Board this month is mailing out notices to 30,000 businesses in California that its records show earned income but have not paid their 2004 taxes to the state.
Some 2,255 Orange County businesses are set to get the notices. L.A. County leads the state with about 7,400.
The tax board sends out these notices each year after it reviews records from the federal Internal Revenue Service, the state Employment Development Department and other agencies, as well as banks.
The board looks for businesses that have recorded income elsewhere but have not paid their state income taxes.
The notices give business owners 30 days to pay up or explain to state tax authorities why they should not have to pay taxes. (There may be legitimate reasons why businesses may not pay taxes in a given year, such as recording a net loss on the books.)
Businesses ignoring the notice face tax assessments with penalties and fees of up to 50% of the taxes owed.
For more information: www.ftb.ca.gov/inc or call (800) 478-7194.
Fine is a staff writer with the Los Angeles Business Journal.
