Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1447 The Rural California Infrastructure Act.(2021-2022)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Article 11 (commencing with Section 63049.73) is added to Chapter 2 of Division 1 of Title 6.7 of the Government Code, to read:

Article  11. Rural California Infrastructure Act
63049.73.
 This article shall be known as the Rural California Infrastructure Act.
63049.74.
 As used in this article:
(a) “Account” means the Rural California Infrastructure Account established pursuant to Section 63049.77.
(b) “Fund” means the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Fund established pursuant to Section 63050.
(c) “Local agency” means a special district, independent fire district, or county, with a population of less than 300,000 individuals according to the 2020 census data.
(d) “Rural infrastructure project” means a project in a local agency’s jurisdiction that is either an economic development facility or a public development facility and meets any of the following criteria:
(1) The project is a disaster preparedness and mitigation project, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Creating, upgrading, or rehabilitating evacuation or shelter areas.
(B) Maintaining fairgrounds.
(C) Upgrading or rehabilitating highways, streets, and roads used for emergency evacuations or identified in the local, regional, or state disaster response plan as priority ingress and egress routes for first responders.
(D) A project identified as a disaster preparedness and mitigation project in the directives and requirements adopted to implement this article.
(2) The project is a disaster recovery project, including, but not limited to, drainage, water supply, and flood control.
(3) The project is a historic or cultural preservation, rehabilitation, or reconstruction project.
63049.75.
 Article 3 (commencing with Section 63040), Article 4 (commencing with Section 63042), and Article 5 (commencing with Section 63043) shall not apply to grants provided by the bank pursuant to this article.
63049.76.
 (a) (1) The bank may establish the Rural California Infrastructure Program for the purpose of making competitive grant awards to eligible local agencies for rural infrastructure projects pursuant to this article.
(2) The bank shall not implement the program before adopting a resolution finding that there is sufficient money in the account to cover the costs of implementing the Rural California Infrastructure Program, including, but not limited to, appropriate oversight costs.
(b) (1) Within six months of the bank adopting the resolution described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), the bank shall begin to accept grant applications from local agencies.
(2) The bank shall administer at least one funding round within both the first and second year of program implementation.
(c) The bank shall prioritize applications for projects that meet either of the following criteria:
(1) The grant will fund no more than 50 percent of the total project cost.
(2) The project is considered shovel ready.
(d) Local agencies that are awarded a grant pursuant to this article may additionally leverage federal or private funding or private-public partnerships to complete the rural infrastructure project for which the grant was awarded.
(e) The bank shall adopt directives and requirements to carry out the purposes of this article.
(f) (1) Grants shall be awarded in a manner that ensures geographic equity.
(2) At least 70 percent of the grant funds shall be used for rural infrastructure projects that address disaster preparedness, mitigation, and recovery.
(3) Funds shall not be released until the local agency can demonstrate that it has the capacity and the full funding to complete the project.
(g) Notwithstanding any other law, the bank may implement, in whole or in part, the Rural California Infrastructure Program with the administrative support of any bank staff, with the administrative costs of those staff being reimbursed from the account.
(h) The bank may administer the program authorized pursuant to this article through one or more of the bank’s other programs, to the extent the requirements of this article are met.
63049.77.
 (a) There is hereby established in the fund the Rural California Infrastructure Account. Notwithstanding Section 13340, moneys in the account are hereby continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years for purposes of this article.
(b) On January 1, 2022, the Controller shall transfer one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) to the account.
(c) The bank may create subaccounts in the account for purposes of implementing this article.
(d) (1) To cover the costs of administering the program, each applicant shall pay a nonrefundable application fee that includes an amount equal to a proportional share of the costs of developing the program, reviewing applications, and monitoring and overseeing the program.
(2) Fees paid pursuant to this subdivision shall be deposited into the account for the purpose of administering the grant program created by this article.
(e) Moneys allocated pursuant to subdivision (b) for purposes of administering this article may also be used to cover the costs of developing the program, reviewing applications, and monitoring and overseeing the program. If those moneys are used to cover these costs, the application fee described in subdivision (d) shall be reduced accordingly.
63049.78.
 (a) On or before January 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, the bank shall submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature, pursuant to Section 9795, regarding program activity in any fiscal year that the account receives funding or in which the bank administers grants pursuant to this article.
(b) The report submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following items:
(1) The total amount of moneys in the account and its subaccounts at the beginning and end of the most recently completed fiscal year.
(2) The number of projects funded.
(3) The number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained through program assistance in each fiscal year.
(c) The bank may include the information required by this section in any annual report of the bank to the Governor and the Legislature in lieu of submitting a separate report for purposes of complying with this section.