Orange County Municipal Code Art. 1 Air Quality Improvement Trust Fund

The Board of Supervisors hereby finds and declares that:

(1) The County is committed to improving the public health, safety, and welfare, including air quality.

(2) Mobile sources are a major contributor to air pollution in the South Coast Air Basin.

(3) Air quality goals for the region established by state law cannot be met without reducing air pollution from mobile sources.

(4) The South Coast Air Quality Management Plan calls upon cities and counties to reduce emissions from motor vehicles consistent with the requirements of the California Clean Air Act of 1988 by developing and implementing mobile source air pollution reduction programs.

(5) To the extent that such programs place demands upon the County's funds, these programs should be financed by shifting the responsibility for financing from the general fund to the motor vehicles creating the air pollution, to the greatest extent possible.

(6) Section 44223, added to the California Health and Safety Code effective January 1, 1991, authorizes the District to impose an additional motor vehicle registration fee of two dollars ($2.00), commencing on April 1, 1991, increasing to four dollars ($4.00), commencing on April 1, 1992, to finance the implementation of transportation measures embodied in the Air Quality Management Plan and provisions of the California Clean Air Act of 1988.

(7) Forty cents ($0.40) of every dollar collected under section 44223 of the California Health and Safety Code shall be distributed to cities and counties located in the District that comply with section 44243, based on the jurisdiction's prorated share of population as defined by the State Department of Finance.

(8) The County of Orange is located within the District and is eligible to receive a portion of revenues from the additional motor vehicle registration fees contingent upon adoption of this ordinance [article].

(9) The prorated share of the additional fee revenues for cities and counties that fail to adopt an ordinance pursuant to section 44243(b)(2) of the California Health and Safety Code shall be distributed instead to the jurisdictions within the District that have adopted an ordinance.

(10) The imposition of the additional motor vehicle registration fee by the District to finance mobile source air pollution reduction programs is in the best interest of the county and promotes the general welfare of its residents.

(Ord. No. 3825, § 1, 7-9-91; Ord. No. 98-15, § 53, 12-8-98)

This ordinance [article] is intended to support the District's imposition of the vehicle registration fee and to bring the County into compliance with the requirements set forth in section 44243 of the California Health and Safety Code in order to receive fee revenues for the purpose of implementing programs to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles.

(Ord. No. 3825, § 1, 7-9-91)

As applied in this ordinance [article], the following words and terms are defined as follows:

(a) County means the County of Orange, California.

(b) Mobile source air pollution reduction programs means any program or project implemented by the County to reduce air pollution from motor vehicles pursuant to the California Clean Air Act of 1988, or the plan proposed pursuant to article 5 (commencing with section 40460) of chapter 5.5 of part 3 of the California Health and Safety Code.

(c) District means the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

(Ord. No. 3825, § 1, 7-9-91)

(a) Receipt of Fee. The additional vehicle registration fees disbursed by the District and remitted to the County, pursuant to this ordinance [article], shall be deposited with the County-Treasurer Tax Collector.

(b) Establishment of Air Quality Improvement Trust Fund. The Auditor-Controller shall establish a separate interest-bearing trust fund account to receive deposits of additional vehicle registration fees from the District. All interest earned by the trust fund account will be credited only to that account.

(c) Transfer of Funds. Upon receipt of additional vehicle registration fees, the Treasurer shall deposit such funds into the separate account established pursuant to subsection (b) above.

(d) Expenditure of Air Quality Improvement Trust Fund Revenue. All revenues received from the District and deposited in the Air Quality Improvement Trust Fund Account shall be exclusively expended on mobile source air pollution reduction programs as defined above. Such revenues and any interest earned on the revenues shall be expended within one (1) year of the completion of the programs.

(e) Audits. The County consents to an audit of all programs and projects funded by vehicle registration fee revenues received from the District pursuant to section 44223 of the California Health and Safety Code. The audit shall be conducted by an independent auditor selected by the District as provided in sections 44244 and 44244.1(a) of the California Health and Safety Code.

(Ord. No. 3825, § 1, 7-9-91)

Should any sentence, section, clause, part or provision of this ordinance [article] be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the same shall not affect the validity of the ordinance [article] as a whole, or any part thereof, other than the part declared to be invalid.

(Ord. No. 3825, § 1, 7-9-91)