ITEM 6-B
City Council Meeting 6-25-91 Santa Monica, California
STAFF REPORT
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Attorney
SUBJECT: Ordinance Adding Chapter 7 to Article V of the
Santa Monica Municipal Code Relating to Mobile
Source Air Pollution Reduction Fees
At its meeting on June 18, 1991, the City Council
introduced for first reading an ordinance relating to mobile
source air pollution reduction fees. The ordinance is now
presented to the City Council for adoption.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully recommended that the accompanying
ordinance be adopted.
PREPARED BY: Robert M. Myers, City Attorney
Joseph Lawrence, Assistant City Attorney
ORDINANCE NUMBER ____
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA ADDING CHAPTER 7 TO ARTICLE V
OF THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO
MOBILE SOURCE AIR POLLUTION REDUCTION FEES
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 7 is added to Article V of the Santa
Monica Municipal Code to read as follows:
Chapter 7. MOBILE SOURCE AIR POLLUTION
REDUCTION FEES
SECTION 5700. Findings and
Purpose. The City Council of the City of
Santa Monica finds and declares that:
(a) The City is committed to
improving the public health, safety and
welfare, including air quality of the
City and surrounding area.
(b) Mobile sources such as motor
vehicles are a major contributor to air
pollution in Santa Monica and throughout
the South Coast Air Basin.
(c) Air quality goals for the
region established by state law cannot be
met without reducing air pollution from
mobile sources.
(d) The South Coast Air Quality
Management Plan ("AQMP") 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.
(e) Such programs should be
financed by shifting the responsibility
for financing from the general fund to
the motor vehicles creating the demand,
to the greatest extent possible.
(f) Section 44223 of the
California Health and Safety Code
authorizes the South Coast Air Quality
Management District ("SCAQMD") 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
AQMP and provisions of the California
Clean Air Act.
(g) Forty cents of every dollar
collected under Section 44223 of the
Health and Safety Code shall be
distributed to cities and counties
located in the South Coast Air Quality
Management District that comply with
Section 44243 of the Code, based on the
jurisdiction's prorated share of
population as defined by the State
Department of Finance.
(h) The City is located within the
South Coast Air Quality Management
District and is eligible to receive a
portion of the revenues from the
additional motor vehicle registration
fees contingent upon adoption of this
Ordinance.
(i) The prorated share of the fee
revenues for cities that fail to adopt an
ordinance pursuant to Section 44243(b)(3)
of the Health and Safety Code shall be
distributed instead to the jurisdictions
within the District that have adopted an
ordinance.
(j) The imposition of the
additional motor vehicle registration fee
by the SCAQMD to finance mobile source
air pollution reduction programs is in
the best interest of the city and
promotes the general welfare of its
residents.
(k) This Ordinance is intended to
implement the SCAQMD's imposition of the
vehicle registration fee and to bring the
City into compliance with the
requirements set forth in Section 44243
of the Health and Safety Code in order to
receive fee revenues for the purpose of
implementing programs to reduce air
pollution from motor vehicles.
SECTION 5701. Definitions. As
used in this Chapter, the following words
and phrases shall be defined as follows:
(a) "City" shall mean the City of
Santa Monica.
(b) "Mobile source air pollution
reduction programs" shall mean any
program or project implemented by the
City to reduce air pollution from motor
vehicles which it determines will be
consistent with 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) "Fee Administrator" shall mean
the Finance Director of the City or his
or her designee.
SECTION 5702. Administration of
Vehicle Registration Fee.
(a) Receipt of Fee. The
additional vehicle registration fees
disbursed by the SCAQMD and remitted to
the City, pursuant to this Ordinance,
shall be accepted by the Fee
Administrator.
(b) Establishment of Air Quality
Improvement Trust Fund. The Fee
Administrator shall establish a separate
interest bearing trust fund account in a
financial institution authorized to
receive deposits of City funds.
(c) Transfer of Funds. Upon
receipt of vehicle registration fees, the
Fee Administrator shall deposit such
funds into the separate account
established pursuant to Subsection (b)
above. All interest earned by the Trust
Fund Account shall be credited only to
that account.
(d) Expenditure of Air Quality
Trust Fund Revenues. All revenues
received from the SCAQMD and deposited in
the Trust Fund Account shall be
exclusively expended on mobile source
emission reduction programs as defined in
Section 5701 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 City consents to
an audit of all programs and projects
funded by vehicle registration fee
revenues received from the SCAQMD
pursuant to Section 44223 of the Health
and Safety Code. The audit shall be
conducted by an independent auditor
selected by the SCAQMD as provided in
Sections 44244 and 44244.1(a) of the
Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of
this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective after 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
__________________________________
ROBERT M. MYERS
City Attorney