Brief Description: Authorizing a customer facility charge on rental car customers to finance consolidated rental car facilities.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Jacobsen, Swecker and Haugen).

Senate Committee on Transportation
House Committee on Transportation

Background: Rental car facilities at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are located at numerous sites near the airport as well as the first two floors of the airport parking garage. The decentralization of rental car facilities contributes to area and airport congestion in the form of trip counts in and out of the airport by multiple commercial shuttle operators and rental cars. Also, by having car rental facilities located in the airport parking garage, on-site parking capacity for other customers is diminished.

Summary: Municipal airports are authorized to levy a customer finance charge (CFC) on rental car patrons at the airport for the purpose of financing the design, construction, and operation of a consolidated rental car facility and common use busing system to shuttle passengers between the facility and airport terminal. The CFC is a user fee paid only by those using rental cars at the airport. Rental car companies would collect the CFC as part of each rental car agreement and remit revenue to the municipality for costs associated with the facility, common use busing operations, and debt service on bonds used to finance the construction of the facility. The CFC is similar to the passenger facility charge collected by airlines on behalf of airports.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate      31   18
House      77   21

Effective: July 24, 2005