South Coast Air Quality Management District

Transfer Funds from Clean Fuels Fund to FY 2001-02 General Fund Budget of Science & Technology Advancement, Services and Supplies Major Object, Professional and Special Services Account

SYNOPSIS: 

Since FY 1999-00, revenues from the state-mandated Clean Fuels Program were directed to the Clean Fuels Fund. Periodically, funds are transferred from the Clean Fuels Fund to the General Fund to support AQMD activities directly related to the Clean Fuels Program. This action is to transfer $400,000 from the Clean Fuels Fund to supplement the FY 2001-02 General Fund Budget of Science & Technology Advancement, Services and Supplies Major Object, Professional and Special Services Account to support Clean Fuels Program activities.

COMMITTEE: 

Technology, June 22, 2001, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Transfer $400,000 from the Clean Fuels Fund to the FY 2001-02 General Fund Budget of Science & Technology Advancement, Services and Supplies Major Object, Professional and Special Services Account to provide administrative support, technical assistance, expert consultations, public outreach and technical conference sponsorship, and Technology Advancement website upgrades.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

Achieving federal and state clean air standards in Southern California will require emission reductions from both mobile and stationary sources beyond those available from current technologies. To meet the needs of the AQMP for progressively lower-emitting fuels and technologies, the AQMD adopted a Clean Fuels Program in 1988 and established the Technology Advancement Office to administer the program. Concurrently, the State Legislature authorized funds for the AQMD’s Clean Fuels Program via SB 2297 and subsequently renewed this funding authorization via SB 316 in 1993. On June 8, 1999, SB 98 (Alarcon) was signed by Governor Davis that extended the Clean Fuels Program funding mechanism until January 1, 2005, added administrative requirements, and specified the creation of and expectations for the Clean Fuels Advisory Group.

The objective defined for the Clean Fuels Program in the enabling legislation is as follows:

California Health & Safety Code Section 40448.5.

"(a) The south coast district shall establish an Office of Technology Advancement to administer the clean-burning fuels program established pursuant to this section. The program shall encourage projects that increase the utilization of clean-burning fuels that reduce public health hazards from air pollution."

"(d) In developing its program, the south coast district shall consider promoting projects in the transportation and stationary source sectors utilizing methanol fuel, fuel cells, liquid petroleum gas, natural gas, including compressed natural gas, combination fuels, synthetic fuels, electricity, including electric vehicles, and other clean-burning fuels."

The AQMD Clean Fuels Program is implemented as a public-private partnership in conjunction with private industry, technology developers, academic institutions, research institutions, and government agencies. This public-private partnership has enabled the AQMD to leverage its public funds with outside investment in a ratio of more than $4 of outside funding to every $1 of AQMD funding.

Proposal

Beginning FY 1999-00, revenues from the state-mandated Clean Fuels Program were directed to the Clean Fuels Fund rather than to an account within the AQMD’s General Fund budget. This was done to clearly delineate the Clean Fuels Program revenues, which have statutory constraints imposed on their use, from the AQMD’s other revenues and its general budget. Periodically, funds are transferred from the Clean Fuels Fund to the General Fund to support AQMD activities directly related to the Clean Fuels Program.

The proposed action is to transfer $400,000 from the Clean Fuels Fund to the FY 2001-02 General Fund Budget of Science & Technology Advancement, Services and Supplies Major Object, Professional and Special Services Account. The proposed use of those funds is to facilitate support for various activities related to achieving the objectives of the Clean Fuels Program. These activities are expected to include the following:

Administrative Support.
Administrative support is needed for implementation of the Carl Moyer Program, School Bus Retrofit Program, Alternative Fuel Infrastructure development, ZEV Incentives Program, Fleet Rule implementation, and implementation of the emission reduction credit generation program.

Technical Assistance
Technical assistance is needed to conduct source testing and acquire other emissions data for particulate matter, toxic emissions and other pollutants from new and existing liquid fuels, natural gas and fuel blends, with and without add-on controls.

Expert Consultation
Consultants are expected to provide expert advice on fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure, microturbine technology, hybrid electric vehicles, battery technology including ultracapacitors, and particulate control technologies. Assignments for these consultants are expected to be short-term and time sensitive.

Public Outreach & Conference Sponsorship
AQMD is often asked to provide support for technical conferences and other outreach activities related to the Clean Fuels Program and the Technology Advancement Office. These conferences provide opportunities for the AQMD to educate the public, communicate its programs to broad audiences, and receive support from public and private organizations. Public outreach is important for commercialization of new technologies.

Technology Advancement Website Upgrades
The Technology Advancement section of the AQMD website is undergoing a complete renovation to make it more user-friendly and to provide more up-to-date information on sponsored clean fuels projects and new opportunities for technology advancements. Consultants will be used to redesign and then help maintain this website.

Resource Impacts

The proposed action is to transfer $400,000 from the Clean Fuels Fund to the FY 2001-02 General Fund Budget of Science & Technology Advancement, Services and Supplies Major Object, Professional and Special Services Account. Sufficient funds are available from the Clean Fuels Fund, established as a special revenue fund resulting from the state-mandated Clean Fuels Program. The Clean Fuels Program, under Health and Safety Code Sections 40448.5 and 40512 and Vehicle Code Section 9250.11, establishes mechanisms to collect revenues from mobile sources to support projects to increase the utilization of clean fuels, including the development of the necessary advanced enabling technologies. Funds collected from motor vehicles are restricted, by statute, to be used for projects and program activities related to mobile sources that support the objectives of the Clean Fuels Program.

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