EXHIBIT 31.1

                            CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
                               SECTION 302 OF THE
                           SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Stefan A. Bird, certify that:

1. I have  reviewed  this  quarterly  report on Form 10-Q of Salton Sea  Funding
Corporation;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a
material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make the statements
made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements were made, not
misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3.  Based  on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.  The  registrant's  other  certifying  officers  and  I are  responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and we have:

   a)  Designed  such  disclosure  controls  and  procedures,   or  caused  such
   disclosure  controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,  to
   ensure that material  information  relating to the registrant,  including its
   consolidated  subsidiaries,  is  made  known  to us by  others  within  those
   entities,  particularly  during  the  period  in which  this  report is being
   prepared;

   b) Evaluated the  effectiveness of the registrant's  disclosure  controls and
   procedures   and  presented  in  this  report  our   conclusions   about  the
   effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the
   period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

   c) Disclosed in this report any change in the  registrant's  internal control
   over financial  reporting that occurred during the  registrant's  most recent
   fiscal  quarter that has  materially  affected,  or is  reasonably  likely to
   materially   affect,   the  registrant's   internal  control  over  financial
   reporting; and

5. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our
most recent  evaluation of internal  control over  financial  reporting,  to the
registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board of directors
(or persons performing the equivalent function):

   a) All  significant  deficiencies  and material  weaknesses  in the design or
   operation of internal  control over financial  reporting which are reasonably
   likely to  adversely  affect the  registrant's  ability  to record,  process,
   summarize and report financial information; and

   b) Any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves  management or other
   employees who have a significant  role in the  registrant's  internal control
   over financial reporting.

Date:  November 6, 2003


                               /s/ Stefan A. Bird
                            -------------------------
                                 Stefan A. Bird
                                    President
                            (chief executive officer)