Airports: financial assistance.

The State Aeronautics Act establishes the Aeronautics Account in the State Transportation Fund, and continuously appropriates the moneys in the account for expenditure for airport purposes by the Division of Aeronautics within the Department of Transportation and the California Transportation Commission. This bill, effective December 8, 2017, would require that the revenues from the imposition of state sales and use taxes, at the rate of 4.1875%, on the sale, storage, use, or other consumption of aviation fuel, as defined, be transferred to the Aeronautics Account for allocation in specified percentages to airports and for aviation-related purposes. The bill would require the division to allocate 27% of these revenues for grants to be made available for nonhub commercial airports, as defined, with less than 300,000 enplanements annually to attract, establish, and expand air service through incentives, marketing, passenger studies, route analysis, and the acquisition of consultants, as specified. The bill would also require the division to provide at least 1% of these revenues annually in specified grants for aviation education. By increasing the sources of funding for and expanding the purposes for which money may be used from a continuously appropriated fund, the Aeronautics Account, the bill would make an appropriation.