4797.1.
(a) The department shall develop, adopt, and implement policies and, if necessary, regulations that establish procedures that authorize homeowners to submit joint applications for purposes of combining the individual parcels of land owned by each homeowner so that the cumulative area of the lands in their joint application satisfies any minimum acreage requirements established by the department for participation in the agreements pursuant to Section 4795 or loans pursuant to Section 4796.(b) The department shall develop, adopt, and implement policies and, if necessary, regulations that establish procedures for providing up to 50 percent of the funds for the director’s share of the costs, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 4795, in advance of any work performed under a joint homeowner application pursuant to subdivision (a).