(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 posted on the airport’s internet website. 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 (2) of subdivision (a). Any audit required by this subdivision may be included as a part of an audit of an airport’s finances.

(Amended (as amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 570, Sec. 6) by Stats. 2023, Ch. 657, Sec. 1. (AB 534) Effective January 1, 2024.)