BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 470
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 2, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 470 (Halderman) - As Amended: April 26, 2011
SUBJECT : School bus: pollution control retrofits
SUMMARY : Authorizes an air pollution control district or a
regional air quality management district (district), until
January 1, 2015, to use motor vehicle registration fee revenues
(the last $2 increase of the $6 dollar surcharge, as specified)
for retrofit of emissions control equipment for existing school
buses.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes a district, until January 1, 2015, to establish a
fee of up to $6 on the registration of motor vehicles
registered in the district.
2)Requires the revenues from the first $4 of the fee be used for
specified purposes. Requires that the revenues from the last
$2 of the fee be used to implement programs to remediate
the air pollution harms caused by motor vehicles under the
Carl Moyer program, the new purchase, retrofit, repower, or
add-on of equipment for previously unregulated agricultural
sources, the new purchase of schoolbuses pursuant to the
Lower-Emission School Bus Program (LESBP), and an accelerated
vehicle retirement or repair program.
3)Under the Federal Clean Air Act passed in 1970, establishes
requirements and standards for the national air pollution
control program. Basic elements of the act include national
ambient air quality standards for major air pollutants,
hazardous air pollutants standards, state attainment plans,
motor vehicle emissions standards, stationary source emissions
standards and permits, acid rain control measures,
stratospheric ozone protection, and enforcement provisions.
4)Under state law, confers authority to the California Air
Resources Board (ARB) over emission standards for mobile
sources. The law does not confer authority to ARB to issue
permits directly to stationary sources of air pollution.
Instead, state law provides that districts have jurisdiction
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over emission standards for non-mobile, or stationary,
sources.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Current law allows districts throughout the state to
impose a surcharge on motor vehicle registration. This
surcharge is used to pay for a number of air quality projects,
including the LESBP. The goal of the LESBP is to reduce the
exposure of school children to the harmful effects of school bus
exhaust. Current laws only allow the motor vehicle registration
surcharge funds to be used to purchase brand new buses. The
surcharge cannot be used for retrofitting older buses with
pollution control equipment. The author contends, however, that
to ensure maximum participation in the LESBP and in order to
offer cost savings alternatives, the law must be changed to
grant school districts the ability to retrofit the emissions
control equipment on existing school buses that use diesel
fuels.
According to the author's office, this bill "gives school
districts greater flexibility in how to use available funds, and
offers a cost-effective alternative to having to purchase brand
new school buses. This legislation only extends the use of new
school bus funds for the retrofitting of existing school buses
with emission reduction equipment especially as funds for the
purchasing of new buses are limited."
Lower-Emission School Bus Program (LESBP) : The primary goal of
the ARB's LESBP is to reduce school children's exposure to both
cancer-causing and smog-forming pollution by first replacing
buses manufactured prior to 1977 (no match funds required). The
program provides grant funding for new, safer school buses and
to put air pollution control equipment (i.e., retrofit devices)
on buses that are already on the road. The ARB staff, in
coordination with the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the
local air pollution control districts, has developed guidelines
for implementation of the LESBP funds. For buses of model years
1977-1986, LESBP funds can be used for replacement buses with a
match requirement. For middle-aged buses from 1987 model years
and newer, the program can be used for emission control
retrofits with match requirements.
Support : According to the Bay Area Air Quality Management
District (BAAQMD) writing in support of this bill, "In 2004, the
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Legislature passed AB 923, which allows air districts to
establish a $2 per vehicle per year fee on annual vehicle
registrations. The BAAQMD has used these funds to
cost-effectively cut emissions from a wide variety of mobile
sources in our region. Under current law, these funds can be
given as grants for the purchase of new, cleaner school buses.
AB 470 would expand this to allow air districts, at their
discretion, to also fund the retrofit of existing school buses
with particulate traps. Because school children are
particularly vulnerable to air pollution, and school districts
continue to have serious funding challenges, we urge you to vote
"aye" on this measure."
Related bill : AB 462 (Bonnie Lowenthal) of 2011, a similar
bill, allows districts, until January 1, 2015, to use motor
vehicle registration fee revenues to replace natural gas fuel
tanks on school buses or replace fueling dispenser nozzles.
That bill passed this committee and is in the Senate awaiting
committee assignment. At some point in the legislative process,
AB 462 and this bill will need to be reconciled.
AB 923 (Firebaugh and Pavley) Chapter 707, Statutes of 2004,
authorized districts to impose an additional $2 of the $4
surcharge on motor vehicle registrations to implement clean air
programs as specified.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093