Bill Text: CA AB218 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Bill 218 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Local agencies: airports: customer facility charges.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2017-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 311, Statutes of 2017. [AB218 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB218-Chaptered.html

Assembly Bill No. 218

CHAPTER 311

An act to amend, repeal, and add Sections 50474.21 and 50474.3 of the Government Code, relating to local government.

[ Approved by Governor September 27, 2017. Filed with Secretary of State September 27, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 218, Bonta. Local agencies: airports: customer facility charges.

Existing law authorizes airports to require rental car companies to collect a customer facility charge under specified circumstances for purposes that include financing, designing, and constructing airport vehicle rental facilities and common-use transportation systems. Existing law specifies that the authorization for an airport to impose a customer facility charge becomes inoperative when the bonds used for financing are paid. Existing law, if a bond or other form of indebtedness is not used for financing or if a bond or other form of indebtedness used for financing has been paid, authorizes the Oakland International Airport to require a customer facility charge for a period of up to 10 years from the imposition of the charge, as specified.

This bill, until January 1, 2023, would delete the authorization pertaining to the Oakland International Airport and would delete the requirement that the general authorization for an airport to impose a customer facility charge become inoperative when the bonds are paid, except as applied to an alternative fee.

Existing law requires the customer facility charge, also referred to as a fee, to be $10 per contract, except as otherwise specified.

This bill, instead, would require that fee not to exceed $10. The bill also would prohibit an airport from requiring a rental company to collect a customer facility charge from a consumer if that requirement would result in the rental company collecting more than one customer facility charge from that consumer in connection with a single rental.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 50474.3 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1286 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1286 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 50474.21 of the Government Code is amended to read:

50474.21.

(a) For purposes of this article, “customer facility charge” means any fee, including an alternative fee, required by an airport to be collected by a rental company from a renter for any of the following purposes:

(1) To finance, design, and construct consolidated airport vehicle rental facilities.

(2) To finance, design, construct, and operate common-use transportation systems that move passengers between airport terminals and those consolidated vehicle rental facilities, and acquire vehicles for use in that system.

(3) To finance, design, and construct terminal modifications solely to accommodate and provide customer access to common-use transportation systems. The fees designated as a customer facility charge shall not otherwise be used to pay for terminal expansion, gate expansion, runway expansion, changes in hours of operation, or changes in the number of flights arriving or departing from the airport.

(b) The aggregate amount to be collected shall not exceed the reasonable costs, as determined by an audit by an independent auditor paid for by the airport, to finance, design, and construct those facilities. The auditor shall independently examine and substantiate the necessity for, and the amount of, the customer facility charge, including whether the airport’s actual or projected costs are supported and justified, any steps the airport may take to limit costs, potential alternatives for meeting the airport’s revenue needs other than the collection of the fee, and whether and to what extent rental companies or other businesses or individuals using the facility or common-use transportation system may pay for the costs associated with these facilities and systems apart from the fee from rental customers, or whether the airport did not comply with any provision of this section. Copies of the audit shall be provided to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary, the Assembly Committee on Transportation, and the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing and shall be posted on the airport’s Internet Web site. In the case of a customer facility charge for a common-use transportation system, the audit shall also consider the reasonable costs of providing the transit system or busing network pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a). Any audit required by this subdivision may be included as a part of an audit of an airport’s finances.

SEC. 2.

Section 50474.21 is added to the Government Code, to read:

50474.21.

(1) To finance, design, and construct consolidated airport vehicle rental facilities.

(c) Except as provided in subdivision (d), the authorization given pursuant to this article for an airport to impose a customer facility charge shall become inoperative when the bonds used for financing are paid.

(d) If a bond or other form of indebtedness is not used for financing, or a bond or other form of indebtedness used for financing has been paid, the Oakland International Airport may require the collection of a customer facility charge for a period of up to 10 years from the imposition of the charge for the purposes allowed by, and subject to the conditions imposed by, this article.

(e) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2023.

SEC. 3.

Section 50474.3 of the Government Code is amended to read:

50474.3.

(a) A customer facility charge may be collected by a rental company under the following circumstances:

(1) Collection of the fee by the rental company is required by an airport operated by a city, a county, a city and county, a joint powers authority, a special district, or the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority formed pursuant to Division 17 (commencing with Section 170000) of the Public Utilities Code.

(2) The fee is calculated on a per contract basis or as provided in subdivision (b).

(3) The fee is a user fee, not a tax imposed upon real property or an incident of property ownership under Article XIII D of the California Constitution.

(4) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (5), the fee shall be in an amount not to exceed ten dollars ($10) per contract or the amount provided in subdivision (b).

(5) The fee for a consolidated rental vehicle facility shall be collected only from customers of on-airport rental vehicle companies. If the fee imposed by the airport is for both a consolidated rental vehicle facility and a common-use transportation system, the fee collected from customers of on-airport rental vehicle companies shall be in an amount not to exceed ten dollars ($10) or the amount provided in subdivision (b), but the fee imposed on customers of off-airport rental vehicle companies who are transported on the common-use transportation system is only that amount that is proportionate to the costs of the common-use transportation system. The fee is uniformly applied to each class of on-airport or off-airport customers, provided that the airport requires off-airport customers to use the common-use transportation system. For purposes of this paragraph, “on-airport rental vehicle company” means a rental company operating under an airport property lease or an airport concession or license agreement whose customers use or will use the consolidated rental vehicle facility and the fee as to those customers is a user fee described in paragraph (3).

(6) Revenues collected from the fee do not exceed the reasonable costs of financing, designing, and constructing the facility and financing, designing, constructing, and operating any common-use transportation system, or acquiring vehicles for use in that system, and are not used for any other purpose.

(7) The fee is separately identified on the rental agreement.

(8) An airport shall not require a rental company to collect a customer facility charge from a consumer pursuant to this article if that requirement would result in the rental company collecting more than one customer facility charge from that consumer in connection with a single rental.

(9) This subdivision does not apply to fees which are governed by Section 50474.1 or Section 57.5 of the San Diego Unified Port District Act (Chapter 67 of the First Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 1962).

(b) Any airport may require rental companies to collect an alternative customer facility charge, as defined in Section 50474.21, under the following conditions:

(1) The airport first conducts a publicly noticed hearing pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2) to review the costs of financing the design and construction of a consolidated rental vehicle facility and the design, construction, and operation of any common-use transportation system in which all of the following occur:

(A) The airport establishes the amount of revenue necessary to finance the reasonable costs of designing and constructing a consolidated rental vehicle facility and to design, construct, and operate any common-use transportation system, or acquire vehicles for use in that system, based on evidence presented during the hearing.

(B) The airport finds, based on evidence presented during the hearing, that the fee authorized in subdivision (a) will not generate sufficient revenue to finance the reasonable costs of designing and constructing a consolidated rental vehicle facility and of designing, constructing, and operating any common-use transportation system, or acquire vehicles for use in that system.

(C) The airport finds that the reasonable cost of the project requires the additional amount of revenue that would be generated by the proposed daily rate, including any rate increase, authorized pursuant to this paragraph.

(D) The airport outlines each of the following:

(i) Steps it has taken to limit costs.

(ii) Other potential alternatives for meeting its revenue needs other than the collection of the fee.

(iii) The extent to which rental companies or other businesses or individuals using the facility or common-use transportation system will pay for the costs associated with these facilities and systems apart from the fee collected from rental customers.

(2) The airport may not require the fee authorized in this subdivision to be collected at any time that the fee authorized in subdivision (a) is being collected.

(3) Pursuant to the procedure set forth in this subdivision, the fee may be collected at a rate charged on a per-day basis subject to the following conditions:

(A) Commencing January 1, 2011, the amount of the fee may not exceed six dollars ($6) per day.

(B) Commencing January 1, 2014, the amount of the fee may not exceed seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) per day.

(D) At no time shall the fee authorized in this paragraph be collected from any customer for more than five days for each individual rental vehicle contract.

(E) An airport subject to this paragraph shall initiate the process for obtaining the authority to require or increase the alternative fee no later than January 1, 2018. Any airport that obtains the authority to require or increase an alternative fee shall be authorized to continue collecting that fee until the fee authorization becomes inoperative when the bonds used for financing are paid.

(4) For any airport seeking to require rental companies to collect an alternative customer facility charge pursuant to this subdivision the following provisions apply:

(A) The airport shall provide reports on an annual basis to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary detailing all of the following:

(i) The total amount of the customer facility charge collected.

(ii) How the funds are being spent.

(iii) The amount of and reason for any changes in the airport’s budget or financial needs for the facility or common-use transportation system.

(B) (i) The airport shall complete an independent audit as required by subdivision (b) of Section 50474.21 prior to the initial collection of the customer facility charge. Copies of the audit shall be provided to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary, the Assembly Committee on Transportation, and the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing and shall be posted on the airport’s Internet Web site.

(ii) Prior to any increase pursuant to subdivision (b), the airport shall update the information provided in the initial collection audit completed pursuant to clause (i). Copies of the updated audit shall be provided to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary, the Assembly Committee on Transportation, and the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing, and shall be posted on the airport’s Internet Web site.

(iii) An audit shall be completed every three years after initial collection if the customer facility charge is collected for the purpose of operating a common-use transportation system or to acquire vehicles for use in the system pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 50474.21. A regularly conducted audit of airport finances that includes the customer facility charge information, that satisfies the requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 50474.21, and is produced in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles of the Government Accounting Standards Board, shall satisfy the requirements of this clause. The information reported pursuant to this clause shall be compiled into one document, shall be provided to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary, the Assembly Committee on Transportation, and the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing and shall be posted on the airport’s Internet Web site accessible to the public. The information reported shall be contained within one easily accessible page contained within the airport’s Internet Web site.

(iv) This section shall not be construed to require an airport to audit a common-use transportation system not financed by a customer facility charge and used for the purposes permitted pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 50474.21.

(v) The airport shall post on the airport’s Internet Web site copies of the completed audits required by this subparagraph for a period of six years following the audit’s completion.

(C) Use of proceeds of any bonds backed by alternative customer facility charges shall be limited to construction and design of the consolidated rental vehicle facility, terminal modifications, and operating costs of the common-use transportation system, as specified in Section 50474.21.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including, but not limited to, Part 1 (commencing with Section 6001) to Part 1.7 (commencing with Section 7280), inclusive, of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, the fees collected pursuant to this section, or another law whereby a local agency operating an airport requires a rental car company to collect a facility financing fee from its customers, are not subject to sales, use, or transaction taxes.

(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2023, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 3.5.