California Air Resources Board

Overview

Assembly Bill 998 (AB 998) established the Non-Toxic Dry Cleaning Incentive Program to provide financial assistance to the dry cleaning industry to switch from systems using perchloroethylene (Perc), an identified toxic air contaminant and potential human carcinogen, to non-toxic and non-smog forming alternatives. The legislation also requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to establish a demonstration program to showcase these technologies statewide. AB 998 requires ARB to impose a three-dollar ($3) per gallon fee on the importers of Perc for dry cleaning operations commencing January 1, 2004. This fee will increase one-dollar ($1) per gallon per year from 2005 through 2013.  Fee collection will continue until all uses of Perc for dry cleaning in California are phased out.  As required by the legislation, the majority of the funds collected by the fee will be used to provide $10,000 grants to assist dry cleaners in switching to non-toxic and non-smog forming cleaning technologies such as wet cleaning and carbon dioxide (CO2) cleaning. The balance of funds will be used to establish the demonstration program.

Additional information can be downloaded below:

• Assembly Bill 998
• April 2004 AB 998 Fact Sheet [English] [Korean]
• Non-Toxic Dry Cleaning Incentive Program Brochure [English] [Korean]
• Dry Cleaning Notice 2015-2: Updated Alternative Solvents Used for Dry Cleaning Operations

Non-Toxic, Non-Smog Forming Grant Program

The grant program for the dry cleaning industry began in August 2004. The program provides $10,000 grants to any eligible dry cleaners in the state that is willing to transition from the use of Perc machines to alternative non-toxic and non-smog forming technologies such as water-based and CO2 cleaning systems.

For the grant application please use the download link at the top of the page.

The non-toxic dry cleaning grant information such as grant guidelines, list of vendors and suppliers, and a list of past grant award recipients is found below. This is historical information; the grant program ended on January 1, 2023.

• Grant Guidelines [English] [Korean]
• Grant Application [English] [Korean]
• Grant Recipients List [2005-06]  [2007] [2008] [2009] [2010] [2011] [2012] [2013] [2014] [2015] [2016] [2017] [2018] [2019] [2020] [2021] [2022]
• Complimentary Vendors and Suppliers List (This list is provided as a courtesy and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. This list may not include all the vendors for Water-Based and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Cleaning Technologies)
• California Professional Wet Cleaning Grants
• Frequently Asked Questions