49-551

49-551. Air quality fee; air quality fund;
purpose

A. Every person who is required to register a motor vehicle in this state pursuant
to section 28-2153 shall pay, in addition to the registration fee, an annual air quality
fee at the time of vehicle registration of one dollar fifty cents. Unless and until the
United States environmental protection agency grants a waiver for diesel fuel pursuant to
section 211(c)(4) of the clean air act, every person who is required to register a diesel
powered motor vehicle in this state with a declared gross weight as defined in section
28-5431 of more than eight thousand five hundred pounds and every person who is subject
to an apportioned fee for diesel powered motor vehicles collected pursuant to title 28,
chapter 7, articles 7 and 8 shall pay an additional apportioned diesel fee of ten
dollars.

B. The registering officer shall collect the fees and immediately deposit, pursuant
to sections 35-146 and 35-147, the air quality fees in the air quality fund established
pursuant to subsection C of this section and shall deposit the diesel fees in the
voluntary vehicle repair and retrofit program fund established pursuant to section
49-474.03.

C. An air quality fund is established consisting of monies received pursuant to
this section, section 49-542.05, gifts, grants and donations, and monies appropriated by
the legislature. The department of environmental quality shall administer the fund.
Monies in the fund are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to the
lapsing of appropriations. Interest earned on monies in the fund shall be credited to the
fund. Monies in the air quality fund shall be used, subject to legislative appropriation,
for:

1. Air quality research, experiments and programs conducted by or for the
department for the purpose of bringing area A or area B into or maintaining area A or
area B in attainment status, improving air quality in areas of this state outside area A
or area B and reducing emissions of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, oxides of
nitrogen, volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants throughout the state.

2. Monitoring visible air pollution and developing and implementing programs to
reduce emissions of pollutants that contribute to visible air pollution in counties with
a population of four hundred thousand persons or more.

3. Developing and adopting rules in compliance with sections 49-426.03, 49-426.04,
49-426.05 and 49-426.06.

D. The department shall transfer four hundred thousand dollars from the air quality
fund to the department of administration for the purposes prescribed by section 49-588 in
eight installments in each of the first eight months of a fiscal year.

E. This section does not apply to an electrically powered golf cart or an
electrically powered vehicle.